Mapping transgender policyscapes: a policy analysis of transgender inclusivity in the education system in Ontario.

In this paper we draw on Mettler's concept of the policyscape and apply it to an examination of policy-making processes and events as they pertain specifically to an analysis of transgender inclusivity and gender diversity in the Ontario context. We employ Ball's focus on policy as text and policy ensembles alongside Bailey's employment of policy dispositifs to map key events that characterize important legislative developments that define the Ontario education policy landscape with regards to addressing gender identity and gender expression as a basis for anti-discrimination. We situate particular events such as the GSA (Gay Straight Alliance or Gender and Sexuality Alliance) and sex education controversies within a broader context of trans activism, which we identify as pointing to quite specific contingencies that characterize the Ontario policyscape. Overall, the paper extends a consideration of the specificities of the Ontario case in Canada to a broader reflection on the utility of the policyscape as a crucial concept for making sense of the relevance of more general characteristics of a spatially-focused trans informed policy analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]