Introduction
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) youth have been facing inimitable daily issues like being discriminated against, bullying as well as an identity crisis in the various settings of their homes and school. Most of the learning institutions have become so hostile. The LGBTQ youth today face barriers making them feel dispirited to participate in different extracurricular activities like the sports or contesting for positions in the student council. The culprits usually lose the confidence of disclosing their identity. There are so many LGBTQ students who feel insecure when in a learning environment since they experience high echelons of verbal as well as physical harassment. Studies reveal that 63% of LGBTQ youth admit being unsafe when at schools that result from their sexual orientation (Bradley et al., 2019). It is thus imperative that educators are strategically positioned in supporting LGBTQ youth by preventing such harassment. However, despite such ideal positions of supporting the LGBTQ youth, most educators lack adequate training. It is thus significant to train educators as a way of equipping them on the means of engaging LGBTQ students and ensuring that the learning environment is safe. In the current study, the researcher thus aims to investigate how high school administrator and educator training can be used in engaging and supporting LGBTQ youth. The main focus of the study will be on the challenges of creating LGBTQ inclusive classrooms for educators and teachers as well as on how to overcome these challenges.
The problem addressed in the current study is that there are no inclusive practices for LGBTQ students, and educators' training is not adequate, which has disseminated the problem. The primary purpose of conducting the current research is to understand the importance of educator training support for LGBTQ youths by targeting educators who are in institutions that have succeeded in implementing teaching strategies for LHBTQ inclusion. The elucidation in this context is that educators can be trained to be able to develop lessons that lack bias and that have positive representations of LGBTQ students. Inclusive practices can make the LGBTQ students evade hostile school experiences, which increases the emotional state of connectedness towards the institution as well as the community. Through the inclusive classrooms, there is the promotion of diversity as educators teach LGBTQ students about the innumerable identities regarding the communities.
In the field of educator training to support LGBTQ youth, burgeoning interests have led to factual findings of inclusive education as well as anti-bullying policies in leaning institutions. There are frequent homophobic remarks that are used by both students and teachers or the entire staff in a school. About 71% of LGBTQ students have reported incidences they heard a homophobic remark coming from a school environment. In comparison, 56% of these students admit they heard such remarks from the teachers and other staff members (Bradley et al., 2019). It is imperative to mention that homophobic invectives are focused on both LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ students. However, understanding the homophobic abuses is situationally reliant on various perspectives and not necessarily deemed negatively by some. Nonetheless, using homophobic insults may severely harm LGBTQ youth in many ways.
In a global context, research on LGTBQ bullying specifies that, even with the widespread and extensive policy change, there are still many struggles among the students. Thus, there is much need for improvement since it has a critical connection to cultural inclusivity, the safety of the learner as well as educator training. For instance, a UK based study on LGTBQ student experiences reveals that even though anti-LGTBQ bullying, together with homophobic dialectal reduced in learning settings between 2012 and 2017, there are still many LGTBQ students who experience bullying at school due to their sexual orientations (Stonewall, 2017). According to a study on LGTBQ students with the faculty experiences in Australian conservatories, there is continued cultural dominance in the educational systems. The dominance is seen in heteronormativity, relegating the LGBTQ students despite the policies that have been enacted (Bradley et al., 2019).
Additionally, a study on experiences of LGBTQ students within South African learning institutions shows that the educational system has proliferated heteronormativity. According to the study, there is a promotion of gender and sexuality binaries from the nature of the classroom inclusions as well as the organizational culture (Francis, 2017).
Ignorance of Bullying
According to a study done by Minero, bullying of LGBTQ students are mostly ignored or even mishandled by most educators (Minero, 2018). The study further indicates that most educators report that they may have an interest in helping the LGBTQ students, but they are not trained to do so, or they are limited in their capacities. After surveying 2,500 teachers and students, results indicated further that educators were less comfortable in dealing with bullying as a result of sexual orientation and gender identity as compared to when the orientations were based on race, capability, or religion (Minero, 2018). However, a significant number of educators,83%, had a feeling that they were obliged to offer inclusive practices for the LGBTQ students (Minero, 2018).
The educators indicate that they are uncomfortable engaging with students on matters pertaining to sexuality as a result of the perceptions regarding what is right (Minero, 2018). They further disclose a lack of professional development in the means of addressing LGBTQ issues, thus leaving them ill-equipped on how to launch LGBTQ-inclusive practices as well as in identifying anti-LGBTQ behaviors and harassment (Minero, 2018).
Effects
The effects as a result of the problem being addressed in the current study, as well as from the above facts based on research, imposes important social concerns. Firstly, bullying LGBTQ youth is connected to various negative consequences, which include suicide as well as homicide (Francis, 2017). When LGBTQ students get intimidated by their fellow peers, they are at extreme risk of having suicidal thoughts. Although bullying has suicidal effects on all youths in general, LGBTQ youths are more likely to be affected as well as they do report about suicidal ideation and are also more prone to impose self-harm. Secondly, LGBTQ students end up dropping from schools since they feel unfit in the learning environment, which lowers their social image (Rivero, 2019). The adverse consequence of the mishandling of LGBTQ students is the victims engaging in anti-social practices like drug abuse and other criminal activities (Francis, 2017).
The research on “Educator Training to Support LGBTQ Youth” is currently of great interest for a number of reasons. Firstly, the study will help to address the critical social concerns like suicidal ideations, drug abuse, and criminal activities that have persisted among the LGBTQ youths despite policies that have been enacted. It will be of great interest to study, for instance, why the policies have failed, and the challenges in executing them.
Although there have been augmented interests to train educators on different topics, including the inherent biases together, the reason for not including such a crucial component in the past studies is that most school systems do not request it as admitted by different educators as well as advocacy groups. Whenever these educators request for such training, there are reports that they face disinclination from administrators who prioritize on other components (Rivero, 2019). The current topic of study is thus of great interest as it will attempt to address the research gap that has been existing.
