Gender, sexuality, and the influence of heteronormativity in elementary school classrooms: an investigation of the subjective experiences of pre-service and recent graduates from the McGill Bachelor of Ed.(kindergarten/elementary)

This study examines the attitudes and perceptions of pre-service teachers and recent graduates with regards to gender and sexualities in elementary school classrooms, as well as their preparation to address these topics as elementary school teachers.The study also examines the ways that the Quebec Education Program supports hegemonic norms of heteronormativity.The eight participants were either currently enrolled in the McGill Bachelors of Kindergarten/Elementary Education or had graduated in 2017.Five pre-service teachers, and three recent graduates participated in focus groups that explored their experiences, attitudes, knowledge and beliefs about gender and sexuality within the elementary school classroom.They were questioned about the importance they associated with creating safe spaces for children to explore their gender identity and sexuality, the place that they saw these topics taking up in their B.Ed. program at McGill, as well as their familiarity with the Quebec Education Program with reference to these topics.The participants were asked to pinpoint experiences in the B. Ed program that disrupted or supported the construction of heteronormative narratives in teacher practices; identify teacher practices they had observed that supported heteronormativity; identify barriers to engaging in a disruption of heteronormativity; and identify ways that pre-service teachers could be better prepared to address these topics in and elementary school classroom.A variety of theoretical lenses are used throughout this research project including queer theory, feminist theory and post-structuralism.The themes found in the data include: the ease of relying on the gender binary; the need to create safe(r) spaces; isolated experiences of learning about the topics of gender and sexuality; the McGill program lacking info; and the need for the training to be mandatory.The implications of the results include suggestions for teacher practices that will allow for the creation of safe(r) spaces that allow for the disruption of heteronormativity, as well Sex: The characteristic assigned at birth based on the genitalia of an infant, most commonly male or female.Sexuality: Intimate, sexual, or romantic attraction towards other people, sometime expressed through a relationship.Heteronormativity: The structures and norms that assume heterosexuality/prescribe heterosexuality; and categorize other ways of being as deviant/othered.These structures are also reliant on the gender binary. Gender binary:The assumption that there are only two gender identities, and the disregard of gender existing on a spectrum.Safe(r)*: I subscribe to the belief that we can attempt to create a safe space through our practices; however, we cannot guarantee a completely safe space seeing as we do not control the actions of others.For this reason, I refer to them as safe(r) spaces seeing as they become safer through my practices.*The definition for safe(r) space does not come from either source.I frame the term within my own understanding of safe space and how I present and use it throughout the thesis.I have done this because this term may be contested in other literature; or presented as simply safe space.The definition demonstrates the intricacies that come with safe space.I choose to make the distinction between safe space and safe(r) space within my work by defining this term in this glossary.

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