Digest #163: LGBTQ-Inclusive Education
By Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel
(Cover photo by Lisett Kruusimäe from Pexels)
It’s June and that means it’s Pride Month. During Pride Month the LGBTQ+ community celebrates achievements of LGBTQ+ people and raises awareness of challenges LGBTQ+ people face. It takes place in June because that is when the Stonewall riots took place in 1969 in Manhattan, New York City, US. These riots triggered a chain reaction that fed into raising awareness for gay rights and equality. In education it is important to be aware of the realities of LGBTQ+ people and educating ourselves about these is the first step towards LGBTQ+ allyship. Luckily, there are plenty of resources available to support an LGBTQ-inclusive education and approach to teaching – ensuring that everyone feels welcome and ready to learn.
Image from Pixabay
1. Life in Scotland for LGBT Young People 2022, Dr Kathleen Cronie (@KathleenCronie) from LGBT Youth Scotland (@LGBTYS).
This is a report based on a large-scale, longitudinal study (conducted over the course of 15 years) that surveyed over 1000 young people from the LGBT community about their perceptions and experiences in relation to education, work, health, and other areas. Particularly the experiences of LGBT young people in schools and related bullying paint a worrisome picture. The full report is worth a read and can be used as a basis for in-class discussions. While this piece of research focusses on a Scottish population, the findings are likely to reflect circumstances in other countries as well.
2. Educational Supports: Teacher’s Resources, LGBTEducation.Scot
On this page, teachers can access a wide range of materials that they can use in their classroom to start their LGBTQ-Inclusive teaching journey. There are posters, infographics, notes, and more. Learn and teach about LGBTQ+ history and famous people, but there are also resources to help raise awareness for homophobic language. All materials are freely available and nicely designed for classroom implementation.
3. LGBTQ-Inclusivity In The Higher Education Curriculum: A Best Practice Guide, University of Birmingham (@unibirmingham).
This resource offers a framework for LGBTQ inclusivity in Higher Education. It also nicely highlights what inclusivity looks like in different disciplines (e.g., Art and Humanities, Social Sciences, Law, STEM) and comes with many practical tips.
Image from Pexels
4. LGBTQ History and Why It Matters, Facing History & Ourselves (@facinghistory).
This is a 50-min lesson on LGBTQ History that comes with ideas for activities, materials (cards and timelines), questions, and so on. It integrates interactive components, such as the good old Think-Pair-Share, too. It can be amended to fit different instruction needs and comes with links to many more resources.
5. 5 Things You Can Do to Support Your LGBTQ Students, Nancy Barile (@NancyBarile) for Hey Teach!
A short resource that summarizes five tips for teachers on how to best support LGBTQ students. The tips come with further links to other resources that invites exploration. Enjoy.
From time to time, we pick a theme and provide a curated list of links. If you have a theme suggestion, please don’t hesitate to contact us! Occasionally we publish a guest digest, and If you'd like to propose a guest digest click here. Our 5 most recent digests can be found here:
Digest #158: Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education
Digest #159: The Digital Divide
Digest #160: Neurodiversity Celebration Week
