Learning About Other People's Families From Other People's Families

• In Event: Preservice Teachers Learning in and About Diverse Families

Abstract

Responding to the important call for pre-service teachers to learn about their students’ family lives, we will discuss how our research team has used video interviews with LGBTQ families to provide pre-service teachers with opportunities to (1) learn what these families’ school experiences are like and (2) how teachers can create safer, more accepting and more inclusive classrooms for children from LGBTQ families.

Drawing on two analytical frameworks, The Triangle Model and intersectionality theory, we will discuss how, if at all, engagement with the interviews provides pre-service teachers opportunities to question the negative and potentially harmful ideas they may have about LGBTQ families and reflect upon the kinds of practices that would better serve LGBTQ families at school.

Authors

• Austen Koecher, University of Toronto

• Tara Goldstein, OISE/University of Toronto

• benjamin lee hicks, University of Toronto

• Kate Reid

• Pamela Baer

• Jenny Salisbury