Abstract

Despite the promulgation and implementation of inclusive social and educational policies in Latin America, transformation of inclusive K–12 educational contexts for transgender students is still a major challenge, partly due to a narrow perspective of gender. This study sought to understand factors affecting the educational trajectories of two transgender women in Chile, who finished high school, through a trans-informed narrative biographical approach with interviews and lifelines. Findings showed that they identify their family, friends and specific teachers as facilitators, and that discrimination, gender dysphoria and lack of school inclusive gender-diverse policies served as significant barriers. Important cultural and policy-related generational elements differentiated their school experience. We discuss how, although recent transgender-friendly social and school policies in Chile can positively affect these students´ school experience, they may reproduce an individualizing approach, placing the burden of school inclusion on transgender students and their families, therefore maintaining essentialist and exclusionary discourses and practices. © 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.