Homophobia in Catholic schools: An exploration of teachers’ rights and experiences in Canada and Australia

Little is known about the experiences of non-heterosexual educators in Catholic schools. This international comparative analysis reveals previously unreported data from Australian and Canadian qualitative studies that examine the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) teachers, and LGBTI Allies from Australia and Canada who are currently teaching or have taught in Catholic schools. Bringing their work together for the first time, the two lead researchers compare their investigations and reveal disheartening similarities with religiously inspired homophobia despite differing legal and policy contexts of the two countries. These two studies reveal that LGBTI teachers, and LGBTI Allies, rely on their personal beliefs and local school community culture and policies to understand their equality rights and this has significant implications for the field of education

Activities for Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley by Aaron Blabey Puffin Books 2007 Target group: Upper Primary

An upper primary multiliteracies project based on the children’s book “Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley” by Aaron Blabey. The main theme explored is same and different

Re-doing teaching: Teachers' conceptions of 'sex education'

This book chapter explores the possibility of doing G&S education and research differently by re-doing teaching. Specifically, it challenges teachers’ conceptions of their work in this area, including the assumption teachers should not engage with gender or sexuality at all. The chapter argues cisgender and heterosexual norms are so inherently promoted in schools and so visibly engaged with by teachers; that non-engagement implicitly supports traditional G&S positions. It outlines relevant curricula and policies on sex education endorsing a critical teaching approach, and data showing some teachers take pleasure in a critical approach regardless of curriculum requirements

Supporting school teachers: primary teachers' conceptions of their responses to diverse sexualities

Teachers experience a range of situations in the primary school context where students talk about, share ideas and use words and actions that might be described as non-heteronormative in character. This article reports on teachers’ experiences of the ways in which they respond to actions and events they see as non-heteronormative. It identifies six different ways in which teachers conceptualise their pedagogical responses to the situations they encounter: (1) being nonchalant; (2) avoiding a response; (3) being uncertain; (4) maintaining home and school boundaries; (5) protecting students’ well-being, and; (6) embracing non-heteronormative sexualities. Teachers’ responses to these events are important in that their actions may affect how students interpret and understand the world. Primary school teachers will benefit from support in knowing how to respond appropriately when faced with a scenario or situation that is non-heteronormative in character

Primary years and teacher practices

Effective teacher practices in the primary years for sexuality education are necessary for the implementation of comprehensive sexuality education. Sexuality education in the primary years is well established as appropriate for the development of children as individuals and for broader health and well-being including child safety and mental health within and across communities. Primary school teacher practices and pedagogies known to be effective for sexuality education include those that are participatory such as inquiry, critical, and dialogic-based approaches. While there is not strong, consistent evidence of the effectiveness of primary teacher strategies for sexuality education (van Leent, Walsh et al. 2023), education researchers and practitioners and those in the field of health have drawn on a range of theories and methods to investigate the most effective ways primary teachers can teach sexuality education

Inclusive literature: Diverse genders and sexualities

In Australia, primary school students bring knowledge, understanding and real-world experiences of diverse genders and sexualities to the classroom and playground. Teachers describe situations they have encountered in which students: ask questions about same-sex relationships; use gender and or sexuality-based epithets; have same-sex parents; discuss their own gender and sexuality identities; know about diverse genders and sexualities through their own family experiences and engagement with multimedia (van Leent, 2017). So, teachers need strategies and tools to respond; to know how to be inclusive of diverse genders and sexualities (DGS) and one strategy teachers can engage in the topic of DGS is through literature (Blackburn et al., 2016). But, what are the good books you ask? Please read on

The changing experiences of primary teachers : Responding to scenarios involving diverse sexualities

Sex education and diverse sexualities are controversial topics within the primary school arena. Concepts of childhood innocence have influenced sex education curriculum, policy development and teaching practices within schools. However, research shows that primary school-aged students are aware of and talk about sexualities. The aim of this research is to reveal the pedagogical experiences of primary school teachers in relation to scenarios inclusive of diverse sexualities. Social constructionist theories of pedagogy and phenomenographic methods are used to provide a detailed analysis of the ways in which primary teacher participants conceptualise their encounters with students who introduce concepts of diverse sexualities. This research reveals that primary students ask questions about diverse sexualities, they use homophobic expressions (often as a daily occurrence), they sometimes reveal homosexual feelings to teachers, some have same-sex parents and some are being raised with knowledge of diverse sexualities. Without comprehensive policy and curriculum support, and appropriate professional learning for teachers, teachers are unable to make well-informed pedagogical decisions that promote inclusive education

Primary school teachers' conceptions of pedagogical responses to concepts of diverse sexualities

This thesis reports on a social constructionist study that identified teachers' conceptions of their pedagogical responses to concepts of diverse sexualities in primary schools in Queensland. The study shows that teachers face a range of scenarios in which students raise awareness of diverse sexualities as part of their everyday experiences, yet teachers have little guidance about how to respond

Textual constraints: Queering the Senior English text list in the Australian Curriculum

In this paper we report the results of an analysis underpinned by a critical orientation seeking non-heteronormative representations of sexualities in an official English curriculum text list. Content and thematic analyses were conducted to establish the extent to which diverse sexualities are represented in the ‘sample text list’ for the Australian Curriculum: Senior Secondary English. Only two of the fiction texts on the list were found to substantially contain non-heterosexual protagonists, named characters, experiences, or relationships. We contend that creators of authorised text lists should seek to more overtly address the persistence of heteronormativity in Australian schools by listing texts that represent diverse sexual identities and issues of sexual difference and diversity, and texts that are equitably accessible to a wider range of students in English