“What would you like me to do? Lie to you?” Teacher education responsibilities to LGBTI students

Abstract

The experiences of lesbian, gay, trans (The use of trans with an asterisk avoids the use of transsexual or transgender and promotes recognition of the inadequacy of such labels), bisexual and intersex (LGBTI) student teachers were recently investigated at a New Zealand faculty of education. Student teachers studying in early childhood education and care, primary and secondary initial teacher education (ITE) were asked about their perceptions of LGBTI visibility and inclusion. Methods used were online questionnaires, focus groups and individual interviews. While the study encompassed all aspects of the ITE programme, this work uses one specific question about practicum from the questionnaire, and findings related to practicum and teaching from the focus groups and individual interviews. In this article, the experiences of LGBTI (those who identified as non-heterosexual) student teachers and “straight” (those who identified as heterosexual) are discussed. Findings suggest that both faculty and practicum settings are heteronormative and indicate that LGBTI student teachers felt uncertain about their safety. Both LGBTI and straight students felt they had not been given adequate preparation to manage the complexities of diverse sexualities on practicum or in their future teaching. We argue that addressing heteronormativity in ITE will better prepare student teachers for the rich diversity of students and families they will encounter in their teaching.