A multicultural,gender, and sexually diverse affirming school-based consultation framework

Gender and sexually diverse (GSD) students face unique challenges in schools due to the privileging of cisgender and heterosexist norms in these settings. In particular, GSD youth who belong to ethnically and racially minoritized groups face further challenges within school environments that disregard their cultural contexts and intersectional identities. It is important for school psychologists to ensure safe and high-quality mental health, educational, and behavioral supports for these students. One possible avenue for building these types of supports is through school consultation. When school psychologists collaborate with other professionals in a culturally competent, participatory way, their work has the potential to bolster behavioral, academic, and mental health outcomes at the individual, group, and/or systems levels. Adapting Ingraham's multicultural school consultation model, this article proposes a multicultural, GSD affirming school consultation framework that also approaches the experiences of racially and ethnically minoritized individuals through the lenses of intersectionality and minority stress frameworks. Across its five domains, this adapted framework aims to give practitioners and researchers a conceptual foundation to support GSD students of minoritized ethnic and racial identities by considering interactions among consultants, consultees, and clients within their wider school contexts.     

LGBTQ student experiences in schools from 2009–2019: A systematic review of study characteristics and recommendations for prevention and intervention in school psychology journals

The present systematic review analyzes ways in which empirical studies in the field of school psychology have studied the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students in the past decade (2009–2019). Results from 23 studies revealed an over-representation of quantitative studies conducted mostly in the United States and an over-representation of majority White, cisgender, and high school participants across studies. Results also showed that studies in the last decade have: (a) focused on exploring negative attitudes and behaviors toward LGBTQ students and the outcomes of these attitudes and behaviors, (b) provided direction on how to support LGBTQ students in schools, and (c) analyzed the effects of bystanders and perpetrators on the well-being of LGBTQ students. In addition, this review revealed ways in which studies in school psychology journals present prevention and intervention practices for creating a safe environment for LGBTQ students, including: (a) policies that focus on the inclusion and protection of LGBTQ students, (b) training for faculty and other school staff to promote LGBTQ students' safety, and (c) curriculum and extracurricular activities that address LGBTQ issues. We provide recommendations for improving the experiences of LGBTQ students in schools such as involving community stakeholders in drafting affirming policies.     

Engaged or excluded: LGBTQ youth's participation in school sports and their relationship to psychological well-being

Sports participation has been shown to positively affect youth well-being. However, research has also shown that sports environments can be unsafe for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth. Using data from a large study on school-related experiences of LGBTQ secondary students who reported on their extracurricular activities in school, (N = 15,813), this study examined LGBTQ youth's participation in school sports, the effects of participation on well-being and school belonging, and whether any such benefits of participation varied by transgender status and gender binary identity. Over a quarter of LGBTQ respondents in our study had participated in school sports, and being transgender and being nonbinary were related to a lower likelihood of sports participation. Transgender males and transgender nonbinary youth had the lowest likelihood of sports participation. In general, LGBTQ youth who participated in sports had increased well-being and greater school belonging. However, in regard to self-esteem, transgender nonbinary youth appeared to have greater benefit from participating in sports than did their transgender male and transgender female peers. Considering these results, schools have a responsibility to ensure that school sports are safe and welcoming for LGBTQ youth.     

I’ve got this: Fostering topic and technology-related emotional engagement and queer history knowledge with a mobile app

Little research has been conducted to differentiate between multiple, and frequently simultaneously available, discrete object foci in academic achievement situations that emotions can be generated from, including technology and academic topics. Using R. Pekrun’s control-value theory of achievement emotions and Sharples and colleagues’ Mobile Learning Theory, we examined whether appraisals of control over technology and task value predicted emotions directed toward using a mobile app (technology-related emotions) and queer history content (topic emotions). In turn, we examined whether technology-related and topic emotions predicted objective and subjective knowledge outcomes. The main results of this study that examined 57 undergraduate students at a Canadian University were the following: (1) Learners reported high mean levels of technological control over the app. (2) Relatively high mean levels of task value. (3) High mean levels of enjoyment and low mean levels of boredom across both technology-related and topic emotions. (4) Learners’ appraisals of task value contributed to multiple regression models that statistically significantly predicted all emotions; appraisals of control over technology contributed to the multiple regression model (along with task value) that statistically significantly predicted technology-related enjoyment. And (5) technology-related enjoyment and topic boredom contributed to multiple regression models that statistically significantly predicted perceived success of learning. Findings and implications are discussed from a critical-analytical perspective.     

Educating queer sexual citizens? A feminist exploration of bisexual and queer young women’s sex education in Tasmania,Australia

There is a well-documented absence of inclusive school-based sex and relationships education (SRE) for Australian lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth. Moreover, relatively few studies specifically examine how bisexual and queer-identifying young Australian women experience SRE. This qualitative study addresses the gap and contributes new perspectives by examining bisexual and queer young women’s experiences of school-based SRE in the state of Tasmania through the lens of sexual citizenship. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 15 Tasmanian bisexual and queer young women, we argue that biomedical, risk-based and heteronormative approaches to SRE reduce young women’s sexual health literacy. By framing SRE around the concept of ‘sexual citizenship’, this article provides important guidance on how SRE can more effectively provide bisexual and queer young women with the skills they need to be effective, engaged sexual citizens.     

Do straight teachers experience this? Performance as a medium to explore LGBTQ world language teacher identity

School and work climate studies of LGBTQ-identified students and educators often reflect challenging environments for those with non-normative sexual and gender identities. Thus, this study sought to understand the experiences of LGBTQ-identified world language (WL) educators in the classroom as well as the intersections of their gender and sexual identities. Drawing upon Butler’s theory of gender performativity and arts-based approaches to research, specifically ethnodrama and performance, this article describes a researcher’s process of working through contradictions in research and representation. Through arts-based approaches to qualitative inquiry, the author maintains how such approaches can provide different mediums for exploring and conveying participants’ lived experiences that are often not possible through traditional qualitative methods of representation.     

Dismissed! Avoidance of Students’ Spiritual and LGBT Identities in Public Schools

Abstract

Negotiation of identity development in adolescence has implications that affect overall well-being. Spirituality and sexuality are two salient aspects of identity that are challenging for adolescents, especially those who identify as LGBT. -Analysis of intersecting themes across two research inquiries indicated that school counselors and students avoided talking with each other about these -aspects of identity. Results suggested that avoidance was related to fear of perceived -repercussions, public school settings, and concern about value conflicts.     

Teaching Transgressive Representations of LGBTQ People in Educator Preparation: Is Conformity Required for Inclusion?

Abstract

One strategy used to teach about diverse populations is to edit their -curricular representations to minimize their transgressive nature in an effort to gain more acceptance among students. This article explores the implications of these -assimilationist narratives when used in educator preparation programs to -represent LGBTQ people. It examines the potential advantages of teaching more diverse and transgressive representations in the interest of inclusion and educator -preparation.     

“Sometimes You Feel Invisible”: Performing Queer/Disabled in the University Classroom

Abstract

This qualitative study explored the classroom experiences of 25 LGBTQ students with disabilities at a research-intensive university. Drawing on critical/postmodern epistemologies and concepts from both queer theory and disability studies, this -article details students’ experiences in the university classroom related to their multiple, intersecting social identities. Students in the study described processes of disclosing identities in classes, managing perceptions of professors and peers, and experiencing and processing microaggressions.