Supporting School Teachers: Primary Teachers' Conceptions of Their Responses to Diverse Sexualities

Y

14

Elementary School Students; Elementary School Teachers; Sexuality; Teacher Role; Sexual Identity; Homosexuality; Sexual Orientation; Gender Issues; Teacher Response; Interviews; Phenomenology; Teacher Attitudes; Foreign Countries

Australia; Canada

10.1080/14681811.2017.1303369

1468-1811

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.

As Provided

53

2017

EJ1140682