ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes a new framework of student identity and intersectionality. Engaging with students’ identities is an essential part of school leadership today. Working with students’ identities is challenging because of growing awareness that in a diverse and rapidly changing world everyone possesses multiple, overlapping identities. Drawing on interviews with over 200 educators in ten school districts in Ontario, Canada, this chapter adds to the literature on intersectionality of race, class, gender orientation, and other aspects of identity, by pinpointing and analysing three forms of intersectionality. These are (1) critical intersectionality, where identities are impacted by multiple forms of social marginalisation and exclusion; (2) celebratory intersectionality, which converts stigmatised aspects of student identity into positive assets; and (3) conflicted intersectionality, where positive and problematic aspects of identity are in tension with one another. The chapter closes with suggestions for educational leaders regarding how to address these different forms of intersectionality.
