Growing sideways: re-articulating ontologies of childhood within/through relationships and sexuality education (RSE)

Catherine Atkinson
,
Leanne Coll
,
Ruari-Santiago McBride
,
Elsie Whittington
,
Francesca Zanatta

University of Manchester
,
Dublin City University
,
University of Limerick
,
Institute of Applied Social Research (IASR)
,
University of East London

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Open access

Abstract

This article presents a collaborative reflective-thinking-writing project that draws from the authors’ experiences of co-productive and critical inquiry with children in the field of gender, sexualities and education. Integrating our collective concerns regarding how childhood can be negatively framed and policed within/through RSE, we explore how these ontological boundaries might be queered through a collective engagement with the possibilities for/of RSE that is affirmative, playful and co-produced with, rather than for, children.