Possibilities for and Barriers to Support: The Role of Teachers

• In Event: Teacher Researchers Learning to Advocate for Diversity in Sexual Identity and Gender Expression in Schools

Abstract

The third paper, presented by two teacher-researchers, focuses on risks, benefits, and barriers LGBTQQ and straight teachers experience in their efforts to support LGBTQQ and gender-creative students and families in schools. When adults, especially teachers, provide social and curricular support to LGBTQQ-identifying and gender creative students in schools, things are better for all students (Kosciw, Greytak, Bartkiewics, Boesen, & Palmer, 2012). We also know that when teachers offer social support, protection from victimization, and active advocacy for LGBTQQ youth in schools, including the presence of Gay-Straight Alliances and inclusive curriculum, LGBTQQ-identifying and gender creative students’ sense of school belonging, academic success, and overall psychological well-being are enhanced (Kosciw et al., 2012, pp. xvi-xvii; Murdock & Bolch, 2005). However, many teachers in schools still insist that they cannot, or will not, makes changes or intervene. This is confirmed by the GLSEN school-climate survey, which found that “less than a fifth of the students reported that school personnel frequently intervened … when homophobic remarks and negative remarks about gender expression were made in their presence” (Kosciw et al., 2012, p. 16). Moreover, “more than half of students reported ever hearing homophobic remarks from their teacher or other school staff” (p. 14) and, “[o]ver half … of students heard teachers or other staff make negative comments about a student’s gender expression at school” (Kosciw et al., 2012, p. 16). Given this knowledge of how to respond to problems faced by sexual minority and gender creative youth in schools, we wondered why teachers still resist working on behalf of LGBTQQ and gender creative students.

Based in their work as part of a teacher-inquiry group committed to combatting heterosexism, homophobia, and transphobia in schools, these two teacher-reseachers share results of interviews conducted with LGBTQ-identifying and straight teachers to answer the questions: What factors are interfering in teachers’ willingness to provide support to LGBTQQ youth and families? Why do some educators intervene while others do not?

Purposive sampling (Patton, 1990) was used in order to identify information-rich cases that exemplify key foci of our inquiry. Interviews were conducted with teachers across disciplines, grade-levels, and teaching contexts, and included teachers who work as school librarians, coaches, and arts-teachers from diverse schools in a midwestern state. Data included audiotaped and transcribed interviews. Interviews were coded and analyzed using a grounded approach and constant comparison (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) and rhetorical analysis of participants’ arguments for why they do or do not engage in this work (Thein, 2013). This analysis was conducted by the teacher inquiry group over the course of a school year. Findings support prior work, which suggests that barriers may be rooted in distinctions that teachers see between doing “anti-work,” which is limited to simply interrupting individual’s homophobic language and discourse; and “ally-work,” which involves a deeper, more critical and collective engagement in actively working for institutional or systemic change (Author B, 2010). These findings challenge teachers to acknowledge limitations of their own anti-work and provoke them to engage in the more productive ally-work.

Authors

• Ryan Schey, The Ohio State University - Columbus

• Dorothy Sutton, Metro Early College High School