QUEER PEDAGOGY AND EDUCATION MacAloney ,1

Queer Pedagogy and Education: Queer Pedagogy and The Way It Disrupts The System ,

Practices and the Environment within Education.

Spencer MacAloney (#40127477)

Professor Gabrielle-Breton-Carbonneau

EDUC 422: Sociology of Education

November 1st , 2022

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Within the context of the 21st-century education system, queerness will be inevitable

within our classrooms as queerness becomes ageless. However, how does queerness, or in theory,

queer pedagogy/theory, disrupt the systemic structure of education? In an article titled Changing

the Shape of the Landscape: Sexual Diversity Frameworks and the Promise of Queer Literacy

Pedagogy in the Elementary Classroom, it states that "Queer pedagogy was .. "a radical form of

educative praxis implemented deliberately to interfere with, to intervene in, the production of

'normalcy' in schooled subjects" (Kim Lin 2017). With this in mind, Queer theory and queer

pedagogies inherently disrupt education on all levels, not only with the way in-service teachers

practice and utilize the third teacher in the classroom, but disrupt the assimilation and normalcy

that education has been used for in our capitalistic society. Overall, it disrupts the very structure

of education within our society and how we utilize it.

Queer theory goes against the structure of education; with pre-service teaching programs

neglecting to incorporate queer pedagogy and instruction, it continues to reinforce the structure

of assimilation of education, as well as the ignorance of queer people within education. One of

the ways we can illustrate how queer theory is neglected within pre-service teaching is with the

class textbook titled Is everyone equal? Is how the word queer is only mentioned twice within

this textbook, and there is no mention of queer pedagogy and queer theory at all. (DiAngelo

2017) I do not mean for this to be harsh; however, it does illustrate a loss of knowledge on queer

pedagogy and theory in pre-service teaching programs, and more importantly, my experience as

a queer person not seeing myself reflected within the media, lessons or conversations within the

education department at Concordia university. This is not just a pattern here at Concordia but

across many other pre-service teaching programs. In an article titled Positioning children‫׳‬s

literature to confront the persistent avoidance of LGBTQ topics among elementary pre-service
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teachers, the authors looked at the way LGBTQ+ literature is being used within classrooms in the

United States. The authors discuss how pre-service teaching programs do not prepare their

soon-to-be teachers to position LGBTQ topics within the classroom. They state that pre-service

teachers are uncomfortable and have a "fear of offending, and their struggle to reconcile

curricular intentions with perceived realities…..written reflection responses indicated many

participants did not intend to use the books or include LGBTQ families in their future social

studies units on family. Their reasons for this fell into three categories: the content as

inappropriate, personal religious beliefs, and perceived conflict." (Buchanan 2019) This

showcases why many pre-service teaching programs do not explore queer pedagogy and how it

reshapes education. I believe that people are scared because they do not get adequate knowledge

of the subject to teach it, and I believe that these links to the lack of representation of queer

people in education, primarily as professors teaching pre-service teachers. I found that being a

queer person in a pre-service education program, professors and my fellow students do not have

an inquiry and knowledge on queer theory, nor do my fellow peers want to know (ECEE

specific) and that I always have to bring it up in order to include my perspective in the

conversation. I have had many moments where I have been tokenized to supply knowledge on

the queer community to my fellow peers, and I find that if I do not give them an answer, then I

am continuing this problem of the lack of knowledge on queer knowledge. With that being said,

an example of queer theory and pedagogy being neglected within the Concordia ECEE program

is the lack of queer representation among staff and professors. In an article titled The tug of war:

When queer and early childhood meet, the author states that "Outside of our professional

relationship, she has never met other gay or lesbian students or faculty members, nor were queer

matters mentioned in any of her subjects." (DeJean 2010) This experience matches my own and
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proves my point even further that this is not a singular experience of queer pre-service teachers

but a shared experience, showing the systemic issues at hand. The same article states, "She also

argues that having an outwardly gay faculty member has been important to her development."

(DeJean 2010); this finding is very prevalent within the ECEE program at Concordia. To my

knowledge, I have never had or heard of a teacher being openly queer within the program, and I

think that opportunities should be given to queer educators due to the lack of representation we

have not only in the program but within the system in general. I hope you can understand how

queer theory and pedagogies are neglected within pre-service teaching programs and in-service

teaching practices.

With that being said, how does Queer theory inherently goes against the structure of

education? Queer pedagogies, in practice, disrupt the normative structure of education. It

restructures education towards the individual rather than continuing its heteronormative, white,

able-bodied, cis-gendered, neurotypical agenda. An article titled Queer theory and

heteronormativity, states that "Queer theory seeks to disrupt dominant and normalizing binaries

that structure our understandings of gender and sexuality…They also inform the development of

queer pedagogy, including classroom and instructional practices designed to expand and affirm

gender and sexual diversity in schools." (Regan 2021) Queer theory and pedagogies challenge

the system; they break the binary education structure by performing justice towards queer people

to include them in the conversation in education. It changes how gender is woven into the

structure of education and how it perpetuates gender stereotypes and dismantles the binary

structure of gender and sexuality within the system. It allows our voices to be heard and our

bodies to be seen and validated within what society considers the norm.
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Queer theory disrupts not only the systemic structure but also how we practice; with the

third teacher in the classroom being a vital tool in the class, teachers can use it to create visual

representation within the classroom and includes more gender-neutral language within practices.

In an article by Cammie Kim Lin on the way queer pedagogy disrupts literacy education within

schools, she states that queer pedagogy is a "starting point for interrupting discourses of

heterosexism and homophobia, as well as other forms of discrimination rampant across

textbooks, young adult fiction, and popular media texts." My own application of the term queer

literacy pedagogy attempts to bring together all of these ideas in a way that may be employed in

any classroom." (Kim Lin 2017). By including various representations and using more inclusive

language within the literature, and having a critical framework for the literacy chosen within

your classroom, a significant part of the third teacher, it lends itself to not only creating

meaningful moments but also dismantling the single normative narrative that is told within our

education system. It dismantles the normative structure that the school inherently employs its

students with and showcases individual stories instead of a single narrative. In a case study

where they looked at the way that visual literacy and literature, with a focus on queer pedagogy,

can create meaningful moments within your class where you would approach "visual literature

with queer ethics and politics in mind and not shying away from conversations about activist

engagement or debated political topics. For queer educators, this is a potent tool, and for queer

students, it can mean providing a space to work out their engagements with the social and

aesthetic world" (Manchester 21). By injecting queer pedagogy within the third teacher in your

classroom, it can create active engagement with one self-identity and representation of diversity

and with queer theory itself. It allows queer pedagogy to queer our children without actively

teaching. It injects queerness on a scale that makes queerness part of normalcy and disrupts the
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normative culture within our schools and, most importantly, the system. With that being said,

"Although gender is woven into the fabric of schools, if we can imagine organizing students

without drawing on gender, we can create more welcoming environments for more bodies. As a

side benefit, we may stop a significant part of gender-based sexual harassment and bullying."

(Linville 2017) Changing the very fabric that schools have and decentering gender creates justice

for those affected by the normative culture woven into our system. It allows for more inclusion

and justice for marginalized voices and bodies to be seen and heard within our system. Overall

"it is the moral responsibility of all schools and educators to create environments in which all

children feel safe and can be successful. When the classroom fails to represent queer students,

they are increasingly likely to disengage from learning" (Carlson 2017). This article generally

shows that having queerness represented within schools encourages acceptance, inclusion, justice

and discourse and engagement within queerness and queer theory. The way that queer pedagogy

affects the third teacher in the classroom also relies on the hidden curriculum to create justice for

queer people. By interjecting any form of queer pedagogy into the third teacher, we, as

educators, are dismantling this dominant culture within education to create justice for those

hidden bodies; this inherently changes the way the hidden curriculum functions within our

classrooms. By using media representation within your classroom to illustrate the diversity

within society, we as educators are changing the way the hidden curriculum functions to expand

the scope of values and expectations students have to represent the diversity we have in the

world. Overall Queer pedagogy changes the educational landscape and how it interacts with

students. It creates a deeper connection to queerness and transforms queerness into a normal state

of being by using the environment and the hidden curriculum to create justice for the hidden

bodies within our system.

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Queer pedagogy does not just disrupt the environment and the system; it changes how we

question our own practices as educators. Interjecting queer pedagogy within your educational

practices performs justice toward marginalized people. An article titled A Queer Turn in

Mathematics Education Research: Centering the Experience of Marginalized Queer Students,

where they examined the way queer pedagogy affects mathematical teachings in schools,

provided a lesson for fifth graders on the different "income of married couples. In this

investigation, students used mathematics to challenge the hegemonic structure of marriage by

considering the intersectionality of sexuality, gender, and class. Men and women in same-sex

married couples, due to the income inequality between men and women, would be structurally

positioned financially ahead of/behind each other." (Dubbs 2016). This intersection of queer

pedagogy and mathematics provides a great example of how queer theory changes our practices

and the perspective of our lesson. Instead of looking at just mathematical concepts, they

understand financial literacy, wage inequality, intersectionality and queer relationships. This

intersectional lesson shows how "An intersectional analysis of oppression requires that we attend

to the above tenets… But doing so from this single lens limits our understanding. If we add an

intersectional analysis… This gives us a much more complex and nuanced view and will drive

more complex and nuanced interventions." (DiAngelo 2017). The evidence found before where

they used mathematics concerning queer theory illustrates an intersectional analysis of

oppression and classism, showing how queer pedagogies are inherently intersectional to provide

justice. This fact further proves how queer theory disrupts the practices within our system to

create justice within the education system in favour of dismantling this single narrative story

within our practices. Queer pedagogy can also be used within upper elementary and all grades. In

an article titled Using Queer Theory to Rethink Gender Equity in Early Childhood Education,
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Where they examined the way "gender in a US urban kindergarten shows how children build a

sense of who they are, who they should be, and whom they want to be as girls and boys through

dominant hetero-sexualized discourses" (Blaise 2012). These findings illustrate the issue of why

queer theory is needed within the classroom. Having a heteronormative lens on play and how

play functions creates a structure that prevents children from participating in play that facilitates

the creation of one's true self. In a study titled What a Girl Wants, What a Girl Needs:

Responding to Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in the Early Childhood Classroom, where the author,

Blaise, discusses how a teacher should facilitate discourse on queerness within her classroom

using the curious nature of the child. She examines how proactive strategies for responding to

children's inquiry of self-construction "Instead of shutting down or ignoring children's sexual

knowledge and curiosity, Blaise (2009) responded proactively by using group time for

developmentally appropriate conversations with children about their understanding of

heterosexualized gender relations. This, in turn, allowed a more complex understanding of

femininity to emerge (Blaise 2009). This proactive method of practice in response to queer

curiosity is a great way to show how queer pedagogies disrupt the standard structure of practice

in exploring a sensitive topic of queerness. Instead of transferring knowledge from the teacher to

the students, the students' collaboration in conversation and curiosity creates shared moments for

students to have peer-led instruction of queer discourse. Overall queer pedagogy re-evaluates the

way we as educators practice; it allows for more critical conversations for all ages to create a

justice framework within our practices, which in the 21st century is needed.

To conclude, queer theory and pedagogy are continuously neglected within the

educational system and pre-service teaching programs globally, which continues the ignorance of

queer people in the educational system and reinforces the systemic issue of normalcy within
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education. With that being said, queer pedagogy is needed to create justice for these marginalized

and silenced bodies within our schools and system. Queer pedagogy changes the environment to

create a representation of queer bodies, which dismantles the normative narrative of

representation and changes the way the hidden curriculum can be a tool of activism to transfer

values of justice and acceptance of queer bodies. Queer pedagogy changes the perspectives of

our lessons in order to have an intersectional lens on queerness and creates active engagement

with queer theory and knowledge. Overall queer pedagogy and theory are needed within our

system on all levels to dismantle the normative structures we have in place and create justice for

marginalized students, educators and society.

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Work Cited

Blaise, M. (2009). “what a girl wants, what a girl needs”: Responding to sex, gender, and

sexuality in the early childhood classroom. Journal of Research in Childhood Education,

23(4), 450–460. https://doi.org/10.1080/02568540909594673

Blaise, M., & Taylor, A. (2012). Using Queer Theory to Rethink Gender Equity in Early

Childhood Education.

Buchanan, L. B., Tschida, C., Bellows, E., & Shear, S. B. (2019). Positioning children‫׳‬s literature

to confront the persistent avoidance of LGBTQ topics among elementary preservice

teachers. The Journal of Social Studies Research, 44(1), 169–184.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jssr.2019.01.006

Carlson, D., & Sweet, J. D. (2017, April). Queering Education: Pedagogy, curriculum, policy.

Queering Education: Pedagogy, Curriculum, Policy. Occasional Paper Series 37.

Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED573409.pdf

DeJean, W. (2010). The tug of war: When queer and early childhood meet. Australasian Journal

of Early Childhood, 35(1), 10–14.

https://doi-org.lib-ezproxy.concordia.ca/10.1177/183693911003500103

DiAngelo, O.S. R. (2017). Is Everyone Really Equal?: An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social

Justice Education(2nd ed.). Teachers College Press.

https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780807776179
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Dubbs, C. (2016). A Queer Turn in Mathematics Education Research: Centering the Experience

of Marginalized Queer Students. North American Chapter of the International Group for

the Psychology of Mathematics Education

Kim Lin, C. (2017, April). Queering Education: Pedagogy, curriculum, policy. Queering

Education: Pedagogy, Curriculum, Policy. Occasional Paper Series 37. Retrieved

November 8, 2022, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED573409.pdf

Linville, D. (2017, April). Educate: Bank Street College of Education Research, publications ...

Queering Education: Pedagogy , Curriculum and Policy . Retrieved November 8, 2022,

from

https://educate.bankstreet.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1316&context=occasional-pap

er-serie

Manchester, Ashley (2017) "Teaching Critical Looking: Pedagogical Approaches to Using

Comics as Queer Theory," SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education: Vol. 2 :

Iss. 2 , Article 2.

Regan, P. V., & Meyer, E. J. (2021). Queer theory and heteronormativity. Oxford Research

Encyclopedia of Education. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.1387

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