Working towards LGBTIQ-inclusive education: perceptions of pre-service teachers’ comfort and emotional experience

ABSTRACT

This study explored Master of Teaching pre-service teachers’ (PSTs’) feelings of comfort and more broadly, their emotional experience as they prepare to work in classrooms with LGBTIQ students. Within the context of a broader mixed methods research project, PSTs were surveyed, and data were combined with a focus group (total participants n = 42). This paper reports on the qualitative data collected. Theoretically, Vygotsky’s cultural-historical approach was used to elicit information about the PSTs’ emotional experience (perezhivanie). Important findings indicate that PSTs’ past experiences influence their understanding of LGBTIQ content and their willingness to transform their developing pedagogy. Systemic tensions around language and context contributed to challenging emotional experiences when PSTs were unable to mitigate the issues. It is argued that comfort is an initial starting point, but perezhivanie provides a lens to examine and support a broader understanding of the institutional structures which constrain PSTs when working with LGBTIQ students.

KEYWORDS:

• Comfort
• teacher education
• LGBTIQ
• inclusion
• pre-service teacher perspectives
• emotional experience
• perezhivanie

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful and constructive comments. Their reviews have contributed to the strength and quality of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The term “LGBTIQ” is used to collectively refer to people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex or queer/questioning. The authors recognise that the literature draws on different versions of the LGBTIQ acronym and have intentionally included the version of the acronym which reflects the identities discussed in each of the cited sources.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Blake Cutler

Blake Cutler is a graduate research student and Research Assistant in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. His areas of interest are in research use and social justice in education. Blake tweets at @blakeacutler

Megan Adams

Megan Adams is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. She has extensive experience in Australian and international educational contexts ranging from pre-kindergarten to the tertiary level. Megan tweets at @DrMeganAdams

Louise Jenkins

Louise Jenkins is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. She aims to support a positive university experience for students via focused research which informs socially inclusive practices.