SGM

University of Alberta

Dedication

Abstract

Acknowledgements

Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 Personal Narrative............................................................................................................. 1 Historical Positioning ....................................................................................................... 6 The Evolving Lexicon of Queer............................................................................................... 7 Chapter Breakdown ....................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2: Literature Review .......................................................................................... 13 Contemporary Research Overview ........................................................................... 13 National Qualitative Studies........................................................................................ 13 The American Context: GLSEN’s National Climate Survey ...................................... 14 The Canadian Context: Egale’s Every Class in Every School ..................................... 17 Queer Research in the Classroom ............................................................................. 20 Creating Inclusive Safe Spaces for SGM Students ........................................................ 21 Policy and policy implementation ................................................................................................... 21 Curriculum inclusive of SGM .............................................................................................................. 23 Staff training and professional development .............................................................................. 24 Language use in schools and inclusivity of language .............................................................. 25 Strategy development in the service of changing school culture ........................................ 26

Improving Social and Cultural Conditions for SGM Students ................................. 27 Queer Research in the Rural Space ........................................................................... 27 Setting the Rural Stage ........................................................................................................... 28 Perceptions of SGM Students in Rural Education........................................................ 30 Barriers to prevention .......................................................................................................................... 31 Mental health worker preparedness .............................................................................................. 32

SGM Student Experiences in the Rural Space ............................................................... 33 Rural versus urban conditions in British Columbia .................................................................. 34 Suicide and substance in queer rural youth ................................................................................ 35 Academic achievement of queer rural youth .............................................................................. 36

Qualitative SGM Research in the Rural Space ............................................................... 37 Social connectedness in Massachusetts ......................................................................................... 37 Queer historical perspectives from the rural southern USA .................................................. 38 Queer social justice in a new/social media world ..................................................................... 41

Concluding Remarks ...................................................................................................... 43 Chapter 3: Queering the Rural Space ............................................................................ 44 Why Queer Theory? ........................................................................................................ 45 What/Who is Queer? ............................................................................................................... 47 From Lesbian & Gay Studies to Queer Theory ............................................................................ 49 Feminism’s role in developing Queer Theory .............................................................................. 52 Queer Theory an extension of Poststructural-Feminism ........................................................ 53

Queer Theory as Political ...................................................................................................... 55 Agency in the service of politicizing queer ................................................................................... 56 Queer Theory as mobilizing resistance.......................................................................................... 58

Negotiating Queer and Rural Subjectivities ................................................................... 60 Life in a small town: illustrations of external and internal culture ................................... 61 Identity construction: intersecting subjectivities ...................................................................... 64

Concluding Remarks ...................................................................................................... 65 Chapter 4: Methodology .................................................................................................... 67 Purpose and Objectives of Research ........................................................................ 67

Study Snapshot .......................................................................................................................... 69 Ethics Review Process ................................................................................................... 69 Sampling ............................................................................................................................. 70 Participant Requirements ..................................................................................................... 70 Sampling Procedure ................................................................................................................ 71 Method ................................................................................................................................ 72 Epistemological Foundation ................................................................................................ 72 Identifying the Research Location ..................................................................................... 74 Research Process ...................................................................................................................... 75 Focus group overview. .......................................................................................................................... 75 Location for the focus group .............................................................................................................. 76 Focus group one process. .................................................................................................................... 77 Focus group two process ..................................................................................................................... 79 Confidentiality, transcriptions and participant follow up. .................................................... 80

Chapter 5: Data Presentation and Analysis ................................................................ 82 Research Overview ......................................................................................................... 82 Participants ....................................................................................................................... 83 Themes................................................................................................................................ 84 Social and Cultural Conditions for SGM youth in the Battle River School Divison in 2012.......................................................................................................................... 86 Top-down Changes in the BRSD ......................................................................................... 89 Challenging language use ................................................................................................................... 89 Out staff in the school. .......................................................................................................................... 90 Community-based leadership. ........................................................................................................... 92 Inclusion of SGM perspectives throughout classroom practice. .......................................... 94 Administration’s role in changing culture ................................................................................... 96 Safe-spaces in schools. .......................................................................................................................... 97 Pink shirt days ......................................................................................................................................... 98

Grassroots Changes in the BRSD ........................................................................................ 99 Creating a Gay Straight Alliance (GSA). ........................................................................................ 99 Purple shirt day.....................................................................................................................................101

Barriers to change. ................................................................................................................ 102 Barriers in Administration. ..............................................................................................................102 Intersections of subjectivities ..........................................................................................................103 Fear as a barrier to action................................................................................................................104 Access issues ...........................................................................................................................................105 Lacking professional development. ...............................................................................................107

Concluding Remarks .................................................................................................... 108 Chapter 6: Concluding Perspectives............................................................................110 The Focus Group Process ........................................................................................... 112 Findings ............................................................................................................................ 113 Recommendations for Action ...................................................................................116 Final Thoughts................................................................................................................ 117 References ............................................................................................................................ 118 Appendix A: Research Participant Advertisement ...........................................132 Appendix B: Invitation and Letter of Consent for Research Participants .133 Appendix C: Transcriber Confidentiality Agreement.......................................136 Appendix D: Email to Participants Between Focus Groups............................137

Chapter 1: Introduction

Personal Narrative

Code of Professional Conduct Rights and Responsibilities for Teachers, and Freedoms

Declaration of

Canadian Charter of Rights

Historical Positioning

Code of Professional Conduct

. Declaration of Rights

and Responsibilities for Teachers

.

The Evolving Lexicon of Queer

Chapter Breakdown

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Contemporary Research Overview

National Qualitative Studies

The School Report,

The American Context: GLSEN’s National Climate Survey

National School Climate Survey: The Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth in Our Nation’s Schools.

The Canadian Context: Egale’s Every Class in Every School

Every Class in Every School: The First National Climate Survey on Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia in Canadian Schools.

Every Class in Every School

Every Class in Every School

Queer Research in the Classroom

Creating Inclusive Safe Spaces for SGM Students

Policy and policy implementation.

Curriculum inclusive of SGM.

Who is missing?”

Training for Professionals Who Work with Gays and Lesbians

Staff training and professional development.

Language use in schools and inclusivity of language. Community of Inquiry

Strategy development in the service of changing school culture.

Improving Social and Cultural Conditions for SGM Students

Queer Research in the Rural Space

Setting the Rural Stage

Perceptions of SGM Students in Rural Education

Barriers to prevention.

Mental health worker preparedness.

SGM Student Experiences in the Rural Space

Rural versus urban conditions in British Columbia.

Not Yet Equal: The Health of Lesbian, Gay, & Bisexual Youth in BC.

Suicide and substance in queer rural youth

Academic achievement of queer rural youth.

Qualitative SGM Research in the Rural Space

Social connectedness in Massachusetts.

Queer historical perspectives from the rural southern USA.

Queer social justice in a new/social media world. the Country: Youth, Media, and Queer Visibility in Rural America

Out in

Out in the Country

Concluding Remarks

Chapter 3: Queering the Rural Space

Why Queer Theory?

What/Who is Queer? queer pedagogy

Tendencies,

Fear of a Queer Planet,

From Lesbian & Gay Studies to Queer Theory.

Epistemology of the Closet

Gender Trouble,



Tendencies, Epistemology of the Closet

Epistemology of the Closet Epistemology of the Closet

Epistemology

Feminism’s role in developing Queer Theory.


Gender Trouble,

Queer Theory an extension of Poststructural-Feminism.

Queer Theory as Political

Agency in the service of politicizing queer.

Queer Theory as mobilizing resistance.

Negotiating Queer and Rural Subjectivities

Life in a small town: illustrations of external and internal culture.

Identity construction: intersecting subjectivities.

Concluding Remarks

Chapter 4: Methodology

Purpose and Objectives of Research

Study Snapshot

Ethics Review Process

Sampling Participant Requirements

Sampling Procedure

Method Epistemological Foundation

Identifying the Research Location

Research Process Focus group overview.

Location for the focus group

Focus group one process

Invitation and Letter of Consent for Research Participants

Focus group two process.

Every Class in Every School: The First National Climate Survey on Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia in Canadian schools

Confidentiality, transcriptions and participant follow up.

Transcriber Confidentiality Agreement

Chapter 5: Data Presentation and Analysis

Research Overview

.

Participants

Themes

have improved

were improving

Social and Cultural Conditions for SGM youth in the Battle River School Divison in 2012

Top-down Changes in the BRSD

Challenging language use

Out staff in the school

Community-based leadership.

open to learning

Inclusion of SGM perspectives throughout classroom practice

Administration’s role in changing culture

Safe spaces in schools

spaces place

Pink shirt days.

Grassroots Changes in the BRSD

Creating a Gay Straight Alliance (GSA)

Purple shirt day

Barriers to change.

Barriers in Administration

Intersections of subjectivities

Fear as a barrier to action.

Access issues

Lacking professional development.

Concluding Remarks

Chapter 6: Concluding Perspectives

The Focus Group Process

Findings

Recommendations for Action

Final Thoughts

References Strange encounters: Embodied others in post-coloniality

International Journal Of Qualitative Studies In Education (QSE) 19

Education, globalization, and social change

.

Developing focus group research: politics, theory and practice

.

List of Schools.

In the Life

Journal of Adolescent Health, 46

Training for professionals who work with gays and lesbians in education and workplace settings

Hatred in the hallways: Violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students in U.S. schools.

Education, Globalization, and Social Change . Bodies that matter Gender trouble Undoing gender Bullied student tickled pink by schoolmates' T-shirt campaign.

Mapping Desires

Social Science & Medicine 72

Substance Use & Misuse 39

Research methods with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender populations Berdie Fowler, honourary degree recipient.

Queer Theory/Sociology

Safe schools: breaking the silence on sexual difference.

Handbook of qualitative research

The Camrose Booster, LX(

Queer theory/sociology

Handbook of qualitative research

The Internet and Higher Education

Becoming two-spirit: gay identity and social acceptance in Indian country Where we are on TV.

GLSENs mational school climate survey: lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students and their experiences in school.

Border crossing: cultural workers and the politics of education

Pedagogy and the politics of hope: theory, culture, and schooling: a critical reader

Psychology in the Schools, 43 International encyclopedia of adult education

Approaches to educational leadership and practice

Proceedings of the Lifelong Learning Revisited: What Next? Conference of the Scottish Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning

Studies in the Education of Adults, 36

International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 17

Adult Education Quarterly, 57

Out in the country: Youth, media, and queer visibility in rural America.

Journal of LGBT Youth,


How to do the history of homosexuality

Journal of Homosexuality, 45 Doing Qualitative Research Using Your Computer, A practical Guide. Coming out of the classroom closet: gay and lesbian

students, teachers, and curricula.

From teasing to torment: School climate in America, a survey of students and teachers.

Journal of Adolescence, 34

,

Education Policy Analysis Archives, 11

The school report: The experiences of young gay people in Britain’s schools

The Sage handbook of qualitative research

Curriculum as cultural practice: postcolonial imaginations

.

Sexual behavior in the human male

Getting ready for Benjamin British Medical Journal,

Getting ready for the Benjamin: Preparing teachers for sexual diversity in the classroom

The 2009 national school climate survey: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in our nation’s schools.

Troubling education: queer activism and antioppressive pedagogy. Gay, straight, and the reason why: the science of sexual orientation Beyond diversity day

Sexual orientation and school policy


Research and evaluation in education and psychology: integrating diversity with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods . Standing out, standing together: The social and political impact of gay-straight alliances.

Pride and prejudice: working with lesbian, gay and bisexual youth


Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History

Journal of LGBT Youth, 7(

Social Problems, Playing with fire Queer theory in education

American Journal of Public Health, 99

Journal of Adolescence, 26,

Not yet equal: The Health of lesbian, gay, & bisexual youth in BC. Vancouver, BC:

Challenging silence, challenging censorship: inclusive resources, strategies and policy directives for addressing bisexual, gay, lesbian, trans-Identified and two-spirited realities in school and public libraries.

Journal of LGBT Youth, 5 Epistemology of the closet

Tendencies

Fear of a Queer Planet

Queer theory/sociology


Critical pedagogy, the state, and cultural struggle

International Journal for Qualitative Studies in Education 10 No longer alone: a resource manual for rural sexual minority youth and the adults who serve them.

Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, and census subdivisions (municipalities), 2011 and 2006 censuses.

Population of census metropolitan areas.

Journal of Curriculum Studies,

Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services,

Every class in every school: The first national climate survey on homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia in Canadian schools. Final report.

Communities of practice: learning, meaning, and identity

Fear of a queer planet

The trouble with normal

Playing with Fire: Queer Politics, Queer Theories,

The straight mind and other essays

Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 8

Queer theory and

,

communication: From disciplining queers to queering the discipline(s).

Appendix A: Research Participant Advertisement

Research Participation Opportunity Are you a teacher concerned with the health and wellbeing of your sexual-minority students? Is making the classroom an inclusive space for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, trans-identified, two-spirit, queer and questioning students important to you? Have you being teaching in the community for 2+ years? If you answered yes to the above questions I would like to hear from you. As the 2011 Report on the State of Public Health of Youth in Canada clearly indicates sexual-minority youth are much more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual counterparts. In order to combat LGBTTQ suicide, the cultures of schools must change to become accepting for and inclusive of sexual minorities. In order for these changes to occur, a deep understanding of the social and cultural conditions that exist for sexual minorities is required. The study, “Social and cultural conditions for sexual minority students in a rural community: a case study of teachers' perspectives,” proposes to investigate the context, including enabling and inhibiting factors, of teachers working in rural schools to create an inclusive environment for sexual minorities. By contextualizing the social and cultural conditions of these rural spaces it is hoped that steps can be taken to improve conditions that exist for sexual minorities in the school. Participants will commit to two focus groups (approximately 1 hour each) utilizing semi-structured discussion that will inform the research by speaking to past and present challenges in the school and the community. If you are interested in participating please contact:

Wade Kelly [email protected] Graduate Student Researcher (M.Ed) Faculty of Education University of Alberta (780) 709-9233

Appendix B: Invitation and Letter of Consent for Research Participants

Invitation and Letter of Consent for Research Participants

Social and cultural conditions for sexual minority students in a rural community: a case study of teachers' perspectives.

Parameters of Participation:

Participant Background


Appendix C: Transcriber Confidentiality Agreement

Transcriber Confidentiality Agreement

Re: Social and cultural conditions for sexual minority students in a rural community: a case study of teachers' perspectives.


Appendix D: Email to Participants Between Focus Groups Email Sent to Participants in Preparation for the Second Focus Group Sent: Subject: Body: