Middle school teachers and their engagement with early adolescent LGBTQ2+ students - a quantitative inquiry on barriers to equity

In the United States, research has shown that middle school LGBTQ+ students face a more hostile school environment than their high school LGBTQ+ student counterparts. Further, middle schools are less likely to have supportive staff members or inclusive curricula. Scholarship is in need of greater understanding of middle school teachers’ perceptions and their roles in this critical time of adolescent development for LGBTQ+ students. This dissertation research employed a quantitative methodology to discover middle school teachers’ perceived barriers to engagement with LGBTQ+ students and topics. The findings of this survey and data analysis reveal teachers report two major obstacles which create anxiety and discomfort surrounding engagement with sexual and gender diverse topics in educational spaces. First, teachers report they are worried that they may say the wrong thing and offend someone. Second, that teachers do not feel knowledgeable about LGBTQ+ terms, phrases, and labels. These findings are consistent with major research supporting the push for LGBTQ+-specific professional development for administrators and educators, and further the discussion on potentially polarizing sociocultural topics and their positionality in non-political, public schools. The potential for controversy can be decreased significantly when the narrative focuses on safety, wellbeing, and recognition of all students in public school, which naturally includes our LGBTQ+ students.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Christel, Caitlin J. Bromagen

Contributors dc:contributor

• Pak, Yoon
• Ward Hood, Denice
• Kang, Hyun-Sook
• Mason, Curtis

• LGBTQ+
• middle school
• teacher perspective

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 Caitlin Christel

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115433

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F115433