Sexual Prejudice Among Midwestern Preservice and In-Service Teachers: How Personal Characteristics Influence Levels of Prejudice

• In Event: 16.057 - Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: 16.057-8 - Gender and Critical Education

Abstract

Sexual orientation describes one facet of diversity that teacher preparation may not adequately address. Addressing the beliefs and attitudes of pre-service and in-service teachers toward sexual minorities in school environments challenges the reproduction of heteronormativity as the default for every student. Analysis of group means calculated from the PREJUDICE scale indicated that affiliation with non-heterosexual friends and family members; political and religious affiliations; participant sexual orientation; and finishing the survey, accounted for 76% of the total variance in PREJUDICE scores. However, college-level coursework in multicultural education did not significantly account for any of the total variance in PREJUDICE scores. These results have implications for re-imagining the kinds of learning experiences offered in multicultural teacher education.

Author

• Joelyn Katherine Foy, Arkansas State University Newport