Should inclusive writing have a place in school? We know that it is used in universities, but less is known about primary and secondary levels. To our knowledge, in the French-speaking world, there is no official guidance on this matter.
This question, like others affecting the evolution of language, often raises heated debates among scientists and Francophiles.
We are currently preparing research aimed not at commenting on what should (or should not) be done, but at consulting teachers who are on the ground, day after day, with young people. The data collection, currently being prepared, will be carried out with teachers of different disciplines at the elementary and secondary levels, throughout Quebec.
What are their practices and representations in relation to inclusive writing? This is the question our research will answer.
Inclusive writing, a well-established movement
Inclusive writing consists of the use of a variety of strategies aimed at making the language less discriminatory towards women or non-binary people, whom the generic masculine would tend to make invisible in the language and, by extension, in thought.
For example, in inclusive writing in French, we will use strategies of feminization, such as “the teachers”, or gender neutralization, such as “the teaching staff”, rather than the generic masculine “the teachers”.
In Quebec, the beginnings of the movement in favor of inclusive writing date back to the 1970s. It is therefore not an emerging phenomenon or exclusive to activist and academic circles, but rather a socially significant movement, recognized and well established over time. Today, inclusive writing is used and valued in different geographical areas and social categories, and in various fields (political, artistic, media, scientific, professional, institutional, etc.).
When it comes to the field of education, however, it is difficult to say whether it has made headway there.
The current situation in the educational environment
As society evolves, so do language and education.
School, and more specifically language teaching and language practices in the classroom, are important vectors of social change, particularly in relation to gender inequalities.
By framing the knowledge to be taught, school programs translate a certain conception of language and history and influence teaching practices, which have an impact on the gendered socialization of students.
Many universities have implemented inclusive writing policies, guides, regulations or manuals since the 1990s, in a desire to promote gender equality. In the French-speaking world, Quebec universities have also played a leading role in terms of feminization.
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Today, several Quebec, Swiss and Belgian universities have their own inclusive writing policy, and French universities use it, even without having officially adopted such a policy.
At the primary and secondary levels, we know that some teachers use or even teach inclusive writing, but it seems that practices vary greatly and that reluctance or fears hold them back.
Quebec more open
The education sector in Quebec would be among the most open to inclusive writing, and teaching students would be mostly in favor of it.
The Quebec education system places strong emphasis on the responsibility of teaching staff to promote gender equality as well as inclusion, acceptance and respect for the diversity of individual experiences of gender identity development.
Recent programs Quebec culture and citizenship particularly emphasize awareness of the various ways in which inequalities and discrimination linked to gender expression can manifest themselves. Since inclusive writing is intended to be a tool for achieving gender equality, we can therefore think that it would have its place in primary and secondary schools in Quebec, consistent with this desire clearly stated in the Quebec education system. .
Undemonstrated difficulties and benefits
Several, especially in France, have tried to ban inclusive writing in schools, generally by citing the potential teaching-learning difficulties that it would pose. The argument very often relayed in the media is that it would be “exclusive and exclusionary”, particularly for students with learning difficulties.
However, until now, no study has empirically demonstrated these difficulties. On the contrary, research on this subject shows that we quickly get used to inclusive writing, that it would not have a significant effect on readability and would not slow down reading.
Furthermore, certain associations have denounced the instrumentalization of disability in the debate on inclusive writing, considering the lack of data in this regard.
Others see potential benefits in using and teaching inclusive writing in primary and secondary schools. In addition to its positive influence, amply shown by research, on the mental representations of young people, who become more egalitarian, on their feeling of self-efficacy and on their motivation with regard to different professions, it would promote better inclusion non-binary students, who often suffer from stigmatization and even violence at school.
Inclusive writing would also offer several learning potentials. For example, it would make it possible to nourish reflection on the tensions between linguistic uses and norms from a historical perspective, and to engage students in critical discussions on social issues and other public debates on the evolution of language. It could also be the subject of work on grammatical gender as part of writing exercises (constrained writing, rewriting exercise, etc.).
Of course, its use and teaching, if it takes place, should be adapted to the age and level of the students, but also to the classroom context.
However, given the lack of data on this subject, studies are needed to take the pulse of the current situation.
Why survey teaching staff?
The question of inclusive writing has been widely explored by research in psycholinguistics, but still little in education. However, educational systems are relevant areas for the study of linguistic practices and the tensions between official standards and real uses in a society. Even more, teaching staff are an interesting group to survey, since they receive, reinterpret and sometimes reject the prescribed curriculum.
Attempts to regulate inclusive writing in educational settings rarely (if ever) take into account the conditions of local contexts and even less the existing practices or the representations of teaching staff about it from an ideological perspective.
However, as Fullan, an expert on educational reforms, reminds us, “educational change depends on what teachers do and think – it is as simple and as complex as that”.
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