Sexual prejudice as an institutional barrier to the social justice agenda in early childhood settings

ABSTRACT

This exploratory cross-sectional study aimed to identify whether specific sociodemographic and attitudinal characteristics could predict educators’ comfort working with sexuality minority people and willingness to take action in their own school or classrooms to help children and sexuality and gender minority parents feel accepted and welcome. The study included 122 early childhood educators working in the northern part of Greece. The School Professionals’ Attitudes Towards Homosexuality (SPATH) measure was used to examine comfort and action orientation to work with sexuality and gender minority parents and their children. The study’s find ings show that educators’ sexual prejudice affects the promotion and endorsement of sexuality and gender minority families’ rights in school settings. Findings emphasise the need to implement training to contribute to reducing prejudice about specific minorities and facilitate inclusion in school settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual prejudice
• social justice agenda
• sexuality and gender minority parents
• anti-oppressive action

Acknowledgments

Thanks go to the study participants and to Karatzouni Korina for her assistance translating the questionnaire

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Availability of data and material

Data from this study are available from the author on reasonable request

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.