School psychologists’ perceptions of transgender training and education: an Australian qualitative investigation

Many school psychologists lack transgender training and education and feel underprepared to work with this population. However, little is known about school psychologists’ engagement with transgender training and education. To redress this gap, the current study explored cisgender school psychologists’ perceptions of transgender training and education. Seven Australian cisgender psychologists completed individual, semistructured interviews, and the data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Three superordinate themes were identified: practicality and utility of training, LGBTQ+ curriculum within tertiary education, and addressing the needs of transgender young people. The findings demonstrate the importance of using real-life experiences and case studies within training, having access to available training opportunities, recognizing the global utility of transgender training, updating tertiary LGBTQ+ curriculum, and using a queer-informed holistic lens within transgender training and education. Practical implications include promoting the global utility of transgender training, “queering” tertiary education, and incorporating lived experiences into training opportunities. Future research should further investigate the impact of certain types of transgender training and education opportunities on psychologists’ perceived competency and client outcomes