Toilet talk: using a students as researchers approach to problematize and co-construct school toilet policy and practice

School toilets, globally and historically, have been problematic as places of shame and bullying, often providing pupils with inadequate facilities. This participatory student research project sought to develop political agency with youth researchers, equipping them with research skills to develop a project about school toilets, and to help challenge and shape their school’s policy and practice. By applying Sara Ahmed’s concepts of willful subjects (2014) and complaint (2021) to the data, we begin to question who can use school toilets as expected. Often fear, disgust and restrictions encourage, if not force, disabled, menstruating, transgender and gender diverse students, to contravene toilet norms, and be considered willful. We worked with student researchers to problematize issues and explore the potential for more effective policies. We argue it is imperative to use feminist pedagogy to challenge toilet policy and practice, with children and young people, to achieve wider social justice in education.