Lgbtiq+ Teachers: Stories from the Field

This book brings together some of the key researchers and thinkers in the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and/or queer (LGBTIQ+) teacher research. The authors offer international perspectives on the state of play for LGBTIQ+ teachers and engage with some of the key issues that have and continue to shape research. Importantly, this book offers accounts from trans*/non-binary teachers and researchers as well as racialised LGBTIQ+ teachers and researchers--voices that have been absent from the field for too long. The book also offers reflections upon the history of research with LGBTIQ+ teachers and offers an examination of the impact of political and legal changes for LGBTIQ+ people upon teacher identity. The book does not understand the process of change as simple--from intolerance to tolerance--rather, it understands that change is complex, nuanced and experienced differently across and between contexts. As such, it provides readers with a challenge--to accept all that it means to be an LGBTIQ+ educator, including unhappy histories, complex relationships with schools, systemic homophobia and transphobia, and moments of pride and joy. This book was originally published as special issue of the journal Teaching Education.

Jen Gilbert is Professor of Education at York University. Gilbert is author of Sexuality in School: The Limits of Education and collaborator on The Beyond Bullying Project, an LGBTQ+ research study in high schools. Gilbert’s research focuses on LGBTQ+ students, teachers, and families; sex education; and youth studies.

Emily Gray is Senior Lecturer in Education Studies at RMIT’s School of Education. Her scholarship provides insights into educators’ lived experiences in relation to gender, sexisms, sexualities, and workplaces. Her research develops new ways of working with social theory in its application to research problems and questions, as well as within knowledge translation mechanisms.