Incorporating queer pedagogy into our educational curriculum is critical in today’s society as 2SLGBTQ+ people and the issues impacting their daily lives have gained more attention. However, language and actions supporting 2SLGBTQ+ people are not making their way into our classrooms as quickly as they should. I experienced this myself while working in an elementary school. The following is a situation I encountered recently; the names of the students have been changed.
John, a fourth grade boy, comes up to me as I am monitoring recess. With a trembling voice, he exclaims: “Miss! Peter keeps calling me gay and he won’t stop even though I keep telling him to!”
John points out Peter, who is among the sea of children playing in the park. I motion for Peter to come to me. As he arrives, I ask him if he knows why I called him over. “Yes, I know! It’s because I called John gay. But I only did it because he always calls me—and all our other friends—gay.”
Before I can process what has just been said, John cuts him off. “Well, when I call you gay, you don’t tell me to stop! So it’s okay when I do it. I told you to stop and you didn’t. That’s what’s wrong!”
You can imagine my stupefaction when I realized that John was not upset that Peter was using the word “gay” as an insult. It was not the name that was the problem; John was upset because Peter did not stop name-calling.
After talking with the two boys, I think they realized that they should not insult each other, but I am not sure they understood why using the word “gay” can be an insult and have a deeper, harmful meaning. Queer pedagogy can be helpful in this regard because it teaches students about different identities, especially queer identities, and it helps students understand queer issues. In fact, queer pedagogy has great potential for how it can be applied to students’ experiences in the classroom, which I explain below.
Queer Pedagogy as a Concept
In theoretical terms, queer pedagogy offers a teaching framework that encourages people to go beyond socially constructed binaries. Queer pedagogy also challenges how different components of society interact with gender and identity to influence systems, people, and their interactions. In queer pedagogy, emphasis is on the development of critical thinking skills that will serve students throughout their life.
With this in mind, queer pedagogy also aims to dismantle heteronormative frameworks in society that are perpetuated through our curricula. Queer pedagogy also promotes the representation of 2SLGBTQ+ people. This representation isn’t limited to novels with queer characters; rather, it means that we constantly demonstrate to students that 2SLGBTQ+ people exist and that we respect and value them, just like other members of society. Most importantly, queer pedagogy promotes a safe space for all youth to express and find themselves. There are resources like the Stonewall teachers’ guide for tackling homophobic language that can help educators apply principles of queer pedagogy to their teaching and the language they use in the classroom. By applying a queer pedagogy to the classroom, students like John and Peter know that using the term gay as an insult is wrong—and why it is wrong.
It’s important to understand the term “queer”, which has historically been a derogatory term used to belittle and insult 2SLGBTQ+ people. However, queer has been re-appropriated and is now used as an umbrella term for different 2SLGBTQ+ identities or as an identity category all its own. As teachers, it is important for us to use the term queer in positive situations to remove any negative connotations and promote it as an inclusive and empowering term.
Queer Pedagogy in Practice
As I explained above, queer pedagogy aims to offer equitable representation, acknowledgement, and respect, which is a right that all students deserve. The subconscious heteronormative discourse that exists within our society shines through in schools’ curricula, and it can be dismantled with queer pedagogy. Through simple and conscious choices, educators can acknowledge heteronormative and cisnormative biases and give themselves—and their students—the tools to think critically about issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion. The textbooks, literature, and media we use in our classroom are a key element to breaking down those barriers. The practices and language of students, teachers, staff, and administrators are also important. All members of educational communities have a responsibility to address 2SLGBTQ+ harassment and discrimination and hold people accountable for their actions.
Another key component of queer pedagogy is the development of meaningful relationships among students and teachers. By modeling healthy dialoguing skills based on deep listening, respect of others, open communication, and suspension of judgement, teachers can demonstrate to their students that they are open to providing guidance in their search for individual identity. In turn, this supports youth in their journey to self-discovery. Additionally, by modelling appropriate language when talking with students, we open the door to understanding how our words can carry harmful meanings. In situations with students like John and Peter, educators can point out their harmful language and explain why it is a problem. In doing so, educators can dismantle the subconscious discriminatory narrative that exists within students and in society, which helps mitigate prejudice and promote a respectful, equitable environment.
Final Thoughts
As a queer woman myself, I would have benefitted from having queer pedagogy integrated into my educational journey. I might have felt represented in the books I was reading. I might have had better relationships with students and teachers, relationships based on open communication and respect. I might have better understood issues of equity and diversity without any feelings of internalized homophobia. I might have been better prepared to enter society, holding a more open, inclusive understanding of how people of different identities can interact and work together to advance society. I deserved better—and our youth deserve better! Students deserve to feel represented in our schools and in the curriculum. And this goes beyond representation of 2SLGBTQ+ communities. Where and how are Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) represented? What about people with disabilities and people from other marginalized groups? To promote equity and diversity, communities such as these deserve to be represented and respected. Our students, like John and Peter, deserve queer pedagogy.
In closing, I leave you with a list of resources that I have used in the field, which may also be helpful to you as you integrate queer pedagogy into your own classroom:
- How to develop 2SLGBTQ+ inclusive classroom resources
- Gender inclusive practices for the classroom
- Recommended fiction and non-fiction resources for K-12 schools
- Lesson plans to teach about gender identity
- Inclusive curriculum resources
- How to teach gender inclusivity
- Steps to a gender-inclusive learning environment
