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Browsing by Subject "queer pedagogy"

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  • Unused potential in the teaching of biology : An exploration of student experiences about the teaching of sex, gender, and sexual diversity in biology classrooms 
    Nyström, Sandra (2024)
    The Finnish National Core Curriculum for Primary and Lower Secondary Education mandates equal treatment of all students and emphasizes the importance of increasing visibility for the appreciation of sex, gender, and sexual diversity. Despite the growing discourse on the mental health of Finnish adolescents, less attention has been paid to gender and sexual minorities, who face more bullying, loneliness, and school exhaustion than their peers, resulting in even poorer mental health. This has largely been explained by the prejudices and heteronormativity that remain widely prevalent, even within schools. Science subjects have been criticized for enforcing these heteronormative narratives through their practices. However, studies suggest that science subjects, especially biology, have the potential to challenge these narratives and foster a more inclusive and safer space for sex, gender, and sexual minorities. In this study, I aim to explore the experiences of lower secondary school students regarding the teaching of sex, gender, and sexual diversity in biology classes. Despite that the educational material used in science subjects has been fairly well studied, there is a gap in previous research regarding the actual experiences of students about these issues, and there are no studies done on this in Finland. Employing a mixed methods approach, this study integrated both semi-structured interviews, an online questionnaire, and observation of lessons. The results indicate that the perceived coverage of sex, gender, and sexual diversity is minimal or brief. Student engagement during lessons where these topics could be discussed was also shown to be minimal, and students raised several wishes for improving the teaching of these topics in biology. These findings highlight the unused potential that remains in the teaching of biology and present students’ wishes for change in the ways diversity issues could be covered in biology to create more inclusive science classrooms.
  • Visible Invisibility : Students’ perception of queer in/visibility in higher education 
    Lehner, Sophie (2023)
    Objectives. The purpose of this thesis was to explore how students perceive queer in/visibility in higher education. Queer is defined as a concept that includes queer pedagogy, queer theory, as well as queer as an identity. Previous research has shown that queering educational institutions was not sufficiently happening. This study aims to give an overview of the current state of queer visibility in higher education by investigating how students in one education faculty perceive queer in higher education. The major question driving the inquiry was if and in what way queer was visible or invisible to the students. Methods. The study was conducted by applying a thematic analysis to participants responses to a writing prompt. The thematic analysis was operationalised through inductive and deductive coding. The deductive coding was based on the theoretical concepts of invisibility as well as on the Ward-Gale model. Inductive coding was used to complement the analysis. Results and conclusions. The results of the study show a profound invisibility of queerness in higher education and limited visibility. Queer visibility was mostly connected to individual students’ visibility and the queer community. There is a clear lack of visibility in staff, curriculum, and higher education structures. The outcomes demonstrate the harm this can do on students’ well-being. Some participants portray being queer as something that is hard but also that it could have been easier if there had been more education on the topic. The study initially aimed to expand the Ward-Gale model; however, the results demonstrate that elements of the existing model are not being implemented in the higher education institution that served as the site of this study. I suggest that further research needs to be done on this topic and strongly urges institutions of higher education to increase queer visibility. Furthermore, I suggest implementing teacher trainings, making use of queer teaching materials, encouraging teachers to queer their teaching style, and organising queer events. One way to begin enhancing queer visibility is to implement the Ward-Gale model that is presented in this study. The article will be submitted for publishing to the European Journal of Higher Education.

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