What Do We Know About Male Teacher Perspectives On Queer Content in the Heterosexual Curriculum?

• In Event: Conditions Count: Teaching in Challenging Situations

Abstract

This study was concerned with the lived experience of sexual minority curriculum to heterosexual male English teachers. They explained their thinking about teaching a sexual minority curriculum. Framing this inquiry in theories of curriculum, identity, and feminism provided structure for the study. The primary research question was “What does it mean to six self-identified heterosexual males to experience same-sex sexuality issues in the high school’s English curriculum?” Data were produced through interviews, classroom observations, written reflection, and school curriculum materials. This data was collected and analyzed using phenomenological methods and ethnographic techniques and biographic life histories. The value of this research lies in its potential to contribute pedagogical methods for addressing sexual minority curriculum in the secondary education English classroom.

Author

• Patrick K. Finnessy, University of Toronto - OISE