‘When I do “bad stuff,” I make the most difference’: exploring doubt,demoralization, and contradictions in LGBTQIA + ally work

Research has demonstrated that teacher allies are integral to social justice work that strives to ensure safety and success for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and other gender and sexuality non-conforming (LGBTQIA+) students. However, prevailing discussions present allyhood in ways that ignore the complexities and contradictions that shape an ally’s efforts and experiences. Drawing on narrative-based interviews with ‘Bailey,’ and integrating conceptual frameworks that seek to make doubt and failure productive, this paper seeks to redefine ally activism in ways that challenge prevailing notions of ally work and that more fully consider sociocultural and political contexts.     

What's sexy? Adolescent girls discuss confidence,danger, and media influence

Building on qualitative research about sexualisation by media and culture and the impact on girls' development, in this article we present a discourse analysis of three focus groups of teen girls of colour and of diverse ethnicities asked to talk about sexiness. We focus on the ways the girls both support and resist hegemonic discourses about femininity and sexuality as well as on the discursive strategies used by the girls to separate sexiness from lack of respectability and present themselves as both knowing consumers of media and passive responders. The girls constructed sexiness in three ways that we refer to as interpretive repertoires and analyse each for paradoxes, contradictions, and resistance to mainstream conceptualisations of sexiness. These are sexy as confident; disadvantages and advantages to sexy; and sexy as sold to you.     

How is technology seen in young people’s visions of future education systems?

This research captured the views of young people regarding their views of ‘how learning should be in the future’. Four focus groups were run with different groups of school‐age pupils. The ways in which technology was seen within these discussions were analysed. The findings noted that the explicit use of technological innovations, and predicted innovations, was rarely seen as having a significant impact on learning, rather that the technology was used in line with the models of learning derived from the participant’s best current experiences of learning and education. Technology was, therefore, seen as something which could make current learning practices more efficient but did not transform the learning process.     

Navigating the relationship between policy and practice: competing discourses of fear and care in teachers’ sense-making about the FAIR Education Act

In this article, I examine the relationship between large-scale social discourses and local, school discourses as it plays out in conversations about gender and sexuality with and among teachers, specifically in the context of the passage of the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act in California. Grounded in feminist poststructural theories of discourse, I discuss qualitative data from a year-long study at one public middle school in Southern California where I provided professional development. I examine what happens when teachers are given opportunities to make sense of their roles in attending to topics of gender and sexual diversity, through conversations and dialogue. The following research questions guided my analyses: What themes arise in teachers’ conversations about their roles and responsibilities in the implementation of the FAIR Education Act? (How) are these themes produced in relationship with large-scale social discourses about gender and sexual diversity in schools? I argue that examining this relationship provides key insights into the ways teachers make sense of equity-focused policies that are meant to shift sociopolitical paradigms, and their roles and responsibilities in the implementation of such policies.     

Adolescent males in New Zealand school choirs: the contradictory business of being in the gender vanguard

School choirs have been stigmatised for adolescent males in New Zealand, resulting in constraints in involvement, bullying, and threat to gender identity. In other national contexts, boys who sing in choirs have experienced a negative stereotype associated with accusations of inferior masculinity, yet little research has probed whether such forces are at play for their New Zealand counterparts. The current study was conducted with a sample of adolescent male school choir members in New Zealand (a country where essentialist gender attitudes have existed). Adolescent male choristers’ perceptions of the gender stereotype, its moderation by cultural context, and how the stigmatised choral domain was negotiated, were explored within a framework of critical masculinities. Such a stereotype and wider implications for gendered structures found in society at large were confirmed. Personal and school-based factors enabling the male choristers’ endurance in a domain that rendered their construction of masculinity subordinate, are discussed.     

欧洲性教育标准述评

随着欧洲各国对性教育重要性认识的提高,加之欧洲各国性教育发展水平不一致,性教育标准多样,无统一的标准,不利于各国相互借鉴以改善性教育。鉴于此,世界卫生组织欧洲区域办事处和联邦健康教育中心于2010年联合制定了欧洲性教育标准。该标准从信息、技能、态度三个方面对6个年龄段的性教育制定具体的内容。该标准首次引入全面性教育(holistic sexuality education),重新定义了性教育年龄段,丰富了性教育的内容,并强调各个年龄段前后衔接。欧洲性教育标准值得借鉴,中国今后在性教育方面应摒弃传统性教育观念、倡导"全面性教育",注重学校性教育内容的广泛性与实用性,以一种积极、整体的方式讲授关于性健康和预防性侵犯的知识,并注重培养高尚的性道德,树立正确的性价值观。     

Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá: Conceptualizing the self-authorship experience of gay Latino college men using conocimiento

This essay aims to enhance our conceptual understanding of students with intersectional identities, specifically gay Latino men in college. We first explain how ethnic, gender, and sexual identities can act as compounding influences. Second, we review two distinct but complementary developmental theories. Conocimiento captures the disruptive, challenging path experienced by marginalized Latino youth. Self-authorship situates the broader developmental process in and beyond college. Our modified framework—conociéndose y escribiéndose—conceptualizes how college students navigate multiple marginalized identities. Finally, we discuss the implications of this intersectional framework for LGBTQ+ students and institutions seeking to enhance diversity, inclusion, and student success.     

对农村高中音乐校本教育研究的思考

改革开放二十多年来,音乐教育事业在国家以及相关部门的大力关注和支持下,取得了可喜的成就。但是,当我们在感受音乐教育事业取得一定成就的同时,也应该认真客观地思考高中音乐课程教学中存在的问题,特别是深受高考影响的农村高中音乐教育中出现的种种状况。文章对广大农村高中音乐校本教育严重滞后的忧人现实进行了深刻思考,并提出了自己的看法和对策。