Factors Influencing Teachers' Interventions in Gendered Harassment: Testing a Theoretical Model

• In Event: 14.043 - Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: 14.043-21 - Heteronormativity and Its Discontents: Teachers, Students, and Schools

Abstract

This national study identified factors impacting teachers’ reported level of confidence in intervening in incidents of gendered harassment. Participants completed an online survey and answered questions about the formal and informal factors impacting the climate in their school as well as the external and internal influences shaping their confidence in addressing forms of sexual, homophobic and transphobic harassment. Using hierarchical linear regression, researchers tested a theoretical model and identified that external-informal factors (school culture), and internal factors (personal identities and life experiences) had a stronger impact on teachers’ levels of confidence than did external-formal factors (school policies and resources). These results offer important insights for teacher preparation, as well as school safety and anti-bullying programs.

Authors

• Elizabeth J. Meyer, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Catherine Taylor, University of Winnipeg

• Tracey Peter, University of Manitoba