A reflective piece from Megan Hamilton
Any person who’s spent time with a young person knows that they are temperamental and emotional bottles of hormones and insecurities. Now imagine that you’re a temperamental and emotional bottle of hormones and insecurities and your entire life is screaming at you that being straight and cisgender is the only acceptable state, but you might not be one of those things. You’re not represented in your own lessons, in the books you’re asked to read, in the behaviour policy, in any safe spaces. You are alone. You do not feel safe.
These young people are the reason that teachers – no everybody – should be using LGBT+ inclusive language, both in our own conversations and in our curriculums. If we as teachers, as adults, as role models, can take the time to carefully think about how we use language, not only do we model fairness and respect, but we can create a culture of acceptance and open-mindedness for all students, helping them to be and, more importantly, feel seen.
Remember, there was once a time in Maths tests when only people named things like Henry and Charles were on two trains heading towards each other, one at 120mph and one at 65mph, but now those trains are much more ethnically diverse places! If Mohammed is able to get his 38 watermelons and 208 mangoes, then Alex should be able to get theirs. Perhaps Gemma lives with zir 2 mums. Perhaps, when we teach about sex education, we discuss a teenage boy called Jamie and his boyfriend, Mark. Perhaps we just stop and think for a second about whether we are using unnecessary gendered language.
I acknowledge that some people might find this hard. It’s perfectly reasonable to find it difficult to understand, but there is so much information available about how to be more inclusive, if you’re willing to try it. Deakin University (2023) has some excellent advice on this, showing simple changes you can make to your own utterances in the classroom:
| Inclusive language | Gendered language |
| They/their– gender-inclusive pronouns | He/him, she/hers |
| Partner | Boyfriend/girlfriend Husband/wife |
| Parent/guardian | Mother/father |
| Welcome everyone | Welcome ladies and gentlemen |
| Office staff | Girls/boys in the office |
| Chair | Chairman |
| Sexual orientation | Sexual preference |
| Rainbow family/family | Lesbian/gay family |
Or you can read Becca Chase and Paula Ressler’s (2009) LGBT/Queer Glossary.
In his book Adolescents at School: Perspectives on Youth, Identity, and Education (2009), Michael Sadowski states that the curriculum “reflects choices about which…identities are to be represented and which are not,” (p.127). Therefore, we must deeply consider the stereotypes we are perpetuating when we consistently use heteronormative language. A student in Plus, our school’s pride group, said “it’s not that I don’t understand this is a change for people, I get it. I’m not asking them to get it right all the time, I’m just asking them to try.” We never stop being learners, and it’s okay to get it wrong sometimes, but when students can see us, the adults, trying to be more inclusive, they will follow. Langmuir (2013) found that, if students were able to find just one “supportive educator”, then their entire school experience can feel more positive. However, she warns that one educator is not enough, stating:
“In schools with supportive educators, students are less likely to miss school, and more likely to feel safe and have higher grade point averages. In addition, students in schools with supportive educators report a greater sense of belonging to the school.” (p.40).
This is supported by the 2003 GLSEN National School Climate Survey, as found in an article by Norma Bailey (2005), which acknowledges that queer students who were unable to identify supportive staff were more than twice as likely to not move on to higher education, but “that figure dropped to just 10.1% when LGBT students could identify supportive teachers and staff at their school” (p.35).
Therefore, it’s simply not enough to say “oh yeah, my school is so bad at this” – you are your school. Culture changes in your classroom. So, what else can we do to become more supportive educators? Michael Weinberg (2009) has written some in-depth yet accessible advice about how else we can make our language and classrooms more inclusive, which you can read on JSTOR here, as well as follow McGarry’s (2013) five excellent top tips for building a curriculum that includes everyone:
- “Make sure the analogies used when teaching don’t express heterosexuality as a given instead of being one of many possibilities.
- Use inclusive language when referring to students, families, or others outside the classroom.
- Use students’ preferred names and gender pronouns (although caution should be used when speaking to parents/caregivers so as not to “out” a student).
- Build knowledge of vocabulary like ally, respect, diversity, etc.
- Use gender-neutral language, such as partner when appropriate.”
See the image below, from the University of Minnesota’s Centre for Educational Innovation, about teaching more inclusively at a Predominantly White Institution:
We can easily apply the principles here to being more LGBT+ inclusive. Their research shows that by adjusting our pedagogy and content, like using more inclusive language in our questions and activities, but also by changing our climate, we can create a safer school, where students feel known, valued, seen, and respected. It starts in your lesson.
References
Bailey, N.J. (2005) ‘Let Us Not Forget to Support LGBT Youth in the Middle School Years’, Middle School Journal, vol. 37, no. 2, pp.31-36, Available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/23043964.
Deakin University (2023) ‘LGBTIQ+ Inclusive Language Guide’, [Online] Available at https://tinyurl.com/anw6ask8
Chase, B, and Ressler P. (2009) ‘An LGBT/Queer Glossary’, The English Journal, vol. 98, no. 4, pp.23-24, Available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/40503256
Langmuir, M. (2013) ‘Improving School Climate for LGBT Youth: How You Can Make Change Now!’, QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking, Available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/qed.0037
McGarry, R. (2013) ‘Build a Curriculum that Includes Everyone’, The Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 94, no. 5, pp. 27-31, Available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/23611667.
Sadowski, M. (2009) Adolescents at School: Perspectives on Youth, Identity, and Education, Harvard Education Press, Cambridge, MA
University of Minnesota (N.D) ‘Pedagogy – Diversifying Your Teaching Methods, Learning Activities, and Assignments’, The Centre for Educational Innovation [Online] Available at https://cei.umn.edu/teaching-resources/inclusive-teaching-predominantly-white-institution/pedagogy-diversifying-your-teaching-methods-learning-activities-and-assignments
Weinberg, M. (2009) ‘LGBT-Inclusive Language’, The English Journal, vol. 98, no. 4, pp.50-51, Available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/40503261
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