Open Journal Systems

LGBTIQ+ education for making teaching inclusive? Voices of teachers from all around the world

Cristina A. Huertas-Abril, Francisco Javier Palacios-Hidalgo

Article ID: 1550
Vol 8, Issue 1, 2023, Article identifier:

VIEWS - 607 (Abstract) 335 (PDF)

Abstract

As the protection of the rights and integrity of LGBTIQ+ people seems to be increasing in some parts of the world, discrimination and violence towards them remain a reality in many other contexts. As a result, there is a growing number of initiatives for making education LGBTIQ+-inclusive in order to enhance educational inclusiveness and train fully prepared democratic citizens. However, research is still limited when examining the perceptions of in-service teachers regarding the appropriateness of addressing topics connected to gender identity and diversity and the reality of the LGBTIQ+ community in their lessons and their training to do so. By using a structured interview distributed online, this qualitative study explores the attitudes of 89 in-service teachers from all around the world regarding the introduction of these issues in education. Findings show that, in general, participants agree with the relevance of these issues but highlight that their sensitive nature needs to be considered. Moreover, there seems to be a lack of training in this respect, which would be appreciated. Ultimately, this article intends to expand both research and reflection on the importance of making education LGBTIQ+-inclusive as a means to promote educational inclusiveness and the training of democratic citizens of tomorrow.

Keywords

LGBTIQ+; gender identity and diversity; inclusive education; teachers’ perceptions; teacher training; qualitative study

Full Text:

PDF



References

1. Burgess S. LGBT inclusion in American life: Pop culture, political imagination, and civil rights. New York, NY: New York University Press; 2023.

2. Johnson P. LGBT rights at the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights. In: Marshall J (editor). Personal identity and the European Court of Human Rights. London: Routledge; 2022. p. 1–32.

3. Maia LA, Chiu A, Desposato S. No evidence of backlash: LGBT rights in Latin America. The Journal of Politics 2023; 85(1): 49–63. doi: 10.1086/720940.

4. ERASING 76CRIMES. 67 countries where homosexuality is illegal [Internet]. Laguna Niguel: Erasing 76 Crimes; 2022 [updated 2023 Apr]. Available from: https://bit.ly/3vbMi1Y.

5. Van Horn SE. Towards queer literacy in elementary education: Always becoming allies. Fresno, CA: Palgrave Macmillan Cham; 2022. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-17087-4.

6. Palacios-Hidalgo FJ, Cosin-Belda C, Huertas-Abril CA. Queering EFL teaching through English for social purposes and cooperation. A didactic proposal for primary education. In: Palacios-Hidalgo FJ, Huertas-Abril CA (editors). Promoting inclusive education through the integration of LGBTIQ+ issues in the classroom. Hershey, PA: IGI Global; 2024. p. 1–21.

7. Britzman DP. Chapter Twenty-Seven: Queer pedagogy and its strange techniques. Counterpoints 2012; 367: 292–308.

8. Quinlivan K, Town S. Queer pedagogy, educational practice and lesbian and gay youth. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 1999; 12(5): 509–524. doi: 10.1080/095183999235926.

9. Kumashiro K. Troubling education: “Queer” activism and anti-oppressive pedagogy. New York, NY: Routledge; 2002. doi: 10.4324/9780203819753.

10. Moore AR. A plea to stop debating and erasing queer lives in ELT. ELT Journal 2021; 75(3): 362–365. doi: 10.1093/elt/ccab029.

11. De Lauretis T. Queer theory: Lesbian and gay sexualities: An introduction. differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 1991; 3(2): iii–xviii. doi: 10.1215/10407391-3-2-iii.

12. Butler J. Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York, NY: Routledge; 2002. doi: 10.2307/1395391.

13. Nemi J. Queer pedagogy: Approaches to inclusive teaching. Policy Futures in Education 2018; 16(5): 589–604. doi: 10.1177/1478210317751273.

14. Hubbard TM. The potential of queer pedagogy to transform schools [Internet]. San Diego: San Diego Gay & Lesbian News; 2022 [updated 2022 Sept 30]. Available from: http://bit.ly/3X1Z3Yt.

15. Lin H, Trakulkasemsuk W, Zilli PJ. When queer meets teacher: A narrative inquiry of the lived experience of a teacher of English as a foreign language. Sexuality & Culture 2020; 24: 1064–1081. doi: 10.1007/s12119-020-09748-y.

16. Keenan H, Hot Mess LM. Drag pedagogy: The playful practice of queer imagination in early childhood. Curriculum Inquiry 2020; 50(5): 440–461. doi: 10.1080/03626784.2020.1864621.

17. Pereira-García S, López-Cañada E, Elling-Machartzki A. Dancing queer tango: An experience of queer pedagogy in PESTE. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 2022; 41(1): 99–109. doi: 10.1123/jtpe.2020-0097.

18. Paiz JM, Zhu J. Queering the classroom: A teacher’s action and a student’s response. TESOL Journal 2018; 9(3): 565–568. doi: 10.1002/tesj.371.

19. Huertas-Abril CA, Palacios-Hidalgo FJ. La formación docente inicial en temáticas LGBTIQ+ y de género: Estudio cualitativo de las opiniones del profesorado (Spanish) [Initial teacher training in LGBTIQ+ and gender issues: A qualitative study of teachers’ opinions]. In: Álvarez-Díaz K, Cotán-Fernández A (editors). Construyendo identidades desde la educación. Madrid: Dykinson; 2022. p. 398–417.

20. Huertas-Abril CA, Palacios-Hidalgo FJ. LGBTIQ+ issues in teacher education: A study of Spanish pre-service teachers’ attitudes. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice 2022; 28(4): 461–474. doi: 10.1080/13540602.2022.2062740.

21. Palacios-Hidalgo FJ, Huertas-Abril CA. Temáticas LGBTIQ+ en el aula: Estudio cuantitativo de las percepciones docentes (Spanish) [LGBTIQ+ issues in the classroom: A quantitative study of teachers’ perceptions.]. In: Álvarez-Díaz K, Cotán-Fernández A (editors). Construyendo identidades desde la educación. Madrid: Dykinson; 2022. p. 380–397.

22. Mitton-Kukner J, Kearns LL, Tompkins J. Pre-service educators and anti-oppressive pedagogy: Interrupting and challenging LGBTQ oppression in schools. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education 2016; 44(1): 20–34. doi: 10.1080/1359866X.2015.1020047.

23. Jennings T. Teaching transgressive representations of LGBTQ people in educator preparation: Is conformity required for inclusion?. The Educational Forum 2015; 79(4): 451–458. doi: 10.1080/00131725.2015.1068420.

24. Lee D, Carpenter VM. “What would you like me to do? Lie to you?” Teacher education responsibilities to LGBTI students. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education 2015; 43(2): 169–180. doi: 10.1080/1359866X.2014.932331.

25. Garron KS, Logan SR. Queering the curriculum: An exploratory study of teachers’ perceptions on integrating LGBTQ+-inclusive curriculum. In: Sanders A, Isbell L, Dixon K (editors). Incorporating LGBTQ+ identities in K-12 curriculum and policy. Hershey, PA: IGI Global; 2020. p. 164–197. doi: 10.4018/978-1-7998-1404-7.ch006.

26. Huertas-Abril CA, Palacios-Hidalgo FJ. Estudio exploratorio de las actitudes del profesorado universitario español sobre diversidad afectivo-sexual e identidades de género en educación superior (Spanish) [Exploratory study of Spanish university professors’ attitudes on affective-sexual diversity and gender identities in higher education]. In: Cotán-Fernández A, Ruiz-Sánchez JC (editors). Muros de discriminación y exclusión en la construcción de identidades: La mirada de las ciencias sociales. Madrid: Dykinson; 2021. p. 749–766.

27. Palacios-Hidalgo FJ, Huertas-Abril CA. A comparative analysis of the attitudes of EU and non-EU teachers about including LGBTI matters in their lessons. In: Cotán-Fernández A, Ruiz-Sánchez JC (editors). Muros de discriminación y exclusión en la construcción de identidades: La mirada de las ciencias sociales. Madrid: Dykinson; 2021. p. 595–612.

28. Patton MQ. Qualitative evaluation checklist [Internet]. 2003. Available from: https://bit.ly/3Sevqm2.

29. Denzin NK, Lincoln YS. The SAGE handbook of qualitative research. 5th ed. London: SAGE Publications; 2017.

30. Chang H, Wangxu H, Jiang P. Analysis of online questionnaires: A survey based on the relationship between self-efficacy and social avoidance among college students. Scientific and Social Research 2022; 4(44): 89–99. doi: 10.26689/ssr.v4i4.3833.

31. Bogdan R, Taylor SJ. Introduction to qualitative research methods: A phenomenological approach to the social sciences. London: John Willey; 1975.

32. Lincoln YS, Guba EG. Naturalistic inquiry. London: Sage Publications; 1985.

33. Graneheim UH, Lindgren BM, Lundman B. Methodological challenges in qualitative content analysis: A discussion paper. Nurse Education Today 2017; 56: 29–34. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2017.06.002.

34. Krippendorff K. Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. London: Sage Publications; 1980.

35. Arbeláez-Gómez MC, Onrubia-Goñi J. Análisis bibliométrico y de contenido. Dos metodologías complementarias para el análisis de la revista colombiana Educación y Cultura (Spanish) [Bibliometric and content analysis. Two complementary methodologies for the analysis of the Colombian magazine ‘Education and Culture’]. Revista de Investigaciones UCM 2014; 14(23): 14–31.

36. Palacios-Vicario B, Sánchez-Gómez MC, Gutiérrez-García A. Evaluar la calidad en la investigación cualitativa: Guías o checklists (Spanish) [Assessing quality in qualitative research: Guidelines or checklists]. In: Congreso Nacional sobre Metodología de la Investigación en Comunicación (2º. 2013. Segovia). Valladolid: Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Jurídicas y de la Comunicación; 2013.

37. Scanlon G, Radeva S, Pitsia V, et al. Attitudes of teachers in Bulgarian kindergartens towards inclusive education. Teaching and Teacher Education 2022; 112: 103650. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2022.103650.

38. Palacios-Hidalgo FJ. Video-based analysis of pre-service primary bilingual teachers’ perceptions about the inclusion of gender and LGBT+ issues in the EFL classroom. In: 2020 Sixth International Conference on E-Learning (ECONF); 2020 Dec 6–7; Sakheer, Bahrain. New York: IEEE; 2021. p. 110–114. doi: 10.1109/econf51404.2020.9385471.

39. Paiz JM. Queering practice: LGBTQ+ diversity and inclusion in English language teaching. Journal of Language, Identity & Education 2019; 18(4): 266–275. doi: 10.1080/15348458.2019.1629933.

40. McCaughey C, Fletcher T. Pre-service teachers’ experiences of learning to teach LGBTQ students in health and physical education. Revue phénEPS/PHEnex Journal 2020; 11(1): 1–16.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.18063/esp.v8.i1.1550
(607 Abstract Views, 335 PDF Downloads)

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2023 Cristina A. Huertas-Abril, Francisco Javier Palacios-Hidalgo

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.