Joe Hall

The Formation, Implementation and Reception of Gender and Sexualities Education in English Primary Schools.

My ESRC Open Competition Ph.D. in Human Geography, completed at the University of Hull in 2015 and supervised by Liz Gagen and David Atkinson explored The Formation, Implementation and Reception of Gender and Sexualities Education in English Primary Schools. This research focused on the creation of contemporary gender and sexualities equalities initiatives in a ‘post’ Section 28 era and how these initiatives were delivered, and understood by pupils (ages 5-11) in two primary schools considered to be leading exponents of this work (one being previously involved with the landmark 2006-2008 No Outsiders project). This research has been published in Social & Cultural Geography, Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, and in The Conversation.

Post-doctoral research in the UK, U.S., and Brazil have extended these interests through projects focusing on:

‘LGBTQ-affirming schools’; that is, schools aimed at, but not exclusive to LGBTQ+ students and their families. This University of Hull, Spencer Foundation funded project with Max Hope focused on Pride School Atlanta and their aspirations for creating LGBTQ+ ‘thriving space’. This followed news media reports in 2015 that Manchester in the UK could open a ‘gay school’. This research has been published in Youth Sexualities (Vol. 2/Chap.8), International Journal of Inclusive Education, and British Journal of Sociology of Education.

Young people’s understandings, experiences, and practices of gender/diversity in the UK today.

This ongoing ESRC-funded project, based at the University of Sheffield and led by Sally Hines explores changing ways of learning about and ‘doing’ gender, but also enduring, intersectional inequalities. For more info, visit the Living Gender in Diverse Times website.

Environmental education and the food-water-energy nexus.

This ESRC/FAPESP funded project between Brazilian engineers and UK social scientists, led (in the UK) by Peter Kraftl explored how young Brazilians learn about and participate in the food-water-energy nexus. For more info, visit the (Re)Connect the nexus website.

‘Negotiating difference: understanding how sexual and religious British Values are being negotiated in providing LGBT-inclusive primary education’

Currently, I am Principal Investigator on a project funded through a small BA/Leverhulme grant entitled, ‘Negotiating difference: understanding how sexual and religious British Values are being negotiated in providing LGBT-inclusive primary education’. This 18-month research with Sally Hines (also University of Sheffield) and Robert Vanderbeck (University of Leeds) explores the aftermath of recent, high-profile protests outside Muslim-majority primary schools in Birmingham, UK. It focuses on the delivery of LGBT-inclusive education through Fundamental British Values and religious support and opposition to talking about LGBT identities in primary school.