Learning from mistakes a key for educators engaged with transgender students: Nolan Pike

As schools continue be more accepting of transgender students, teachers need to be open to learning from their mistakes and act compassionately in order to create an inclusive learning environment.

Those were some of the messages Nolan Pike, an LGBT community educator, had for an audience at this week's annual P.E.I. Teacher's Federation convention in Charlottetown.

'We all win'

"We all benefit from that opportunity for those people to be able to participate more fully in our communities. There is so much we have to learn from those members of our community and we all win when students and staff feel like they can thrive in the environment,"Pike said on Island Morning.

Pike noted that teachers and staff are part of a transgender student's transition process to become "more aligned." When that process is respected, it helps a student feel healthy, happy and successful.

Learning from mistakes

Pike said that staff can access resources and become educated while also realizing that they will always have more to learn. Educators may not always know what to say and may make mistakes, but a key is be committed to an open learning process and adopt a compassionate approach.

"Sometimes we learn the most from listening and sometimes we learn the most from listening when we make a mistake. And, we're fortunate enough that somebody has trusted us enough to point that out to us," he said.

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