“The Changers and the Changed”: Preparing Early Childhood Teachers to Work With Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Families

Abstract

The Census Bureau estimates that up to 14 million children under the age of 18 are being raised by lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) families. Just as heterosexual families require child care to enable work and want high-quality early childhood education to enhance their children's development, LGBT families experience the same needs and desires for their children. However, similar to other educational institutions, the early childhood field has either held negative beliefs regarding diverse family structures or ignored the unique needs of LGBT families. As part of an effort to address teachers' understandings of equity, faculty at a southeastern university sponsored a course designed to prepare early childhood teacher education students to offer welcoming, inclusive learning environments for LGBT families and their young children. The purpose of this article is to examine the learning process and transformation of students in this course. Findings from quantitative and qualitative data are presented, as is a discussion on how courses on family equity can and should be incorporated into teacher education programs. Article:As part of an effort to invest curricular time in building dispositions of compassion, understanding, equity, and justice related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals, faculty at a southeastern university sponsored a course designed to prepare early childhood teacher education students to offer welcoming, inclusive learning environments for LGBT families and their young children. This institution exists in a social-historical landscape of competing and overlapping cultural discourses of civility, religious and political conservatism, struggle for civil and economic rights, homophobia, and progressive resistance (Chafe, 1980;Segrest, 1985). In this context, the process of expanding the university curriculum to Homophobia in Early Childhood EducationUnfortunately, the field of early childhood education is no exception to the sociocultural trend toward exclusion and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals and families. According to Derman-Sparks,

Lesbian, gay, and heterosexual adoptive parents' experiences in preschool environments

“…This is consistent with prior research on LG parents of school-age children (Kosciw & Diaz, 2008), suggesting that teacher preparation surrounding LGBT family issues should include, and begin with, early childhood educators (Kintner-Duffy et al, 2012). By helping early childhood educators to become more comfortable and inclusive with regard to LG parent families, stronger relationships between LG parents and their children's schools may be fostered (Byard et al, 2013).…”

“…Third, the study examined only the perspectives of adoptive parents, not teachers or children; that is, there was no triangulation of the data from multiple informants, which limits the richness and depth of the findings (Patton, 2002). Future work might, for example, examine parents' perspectives alongside early childhood educators' perspectives on interacting with LG and adoptive parents (Kintner-Duffy et al, 2012). …”

“…The findings suggest that most parents were open about their family structure with their children's schools, and few reported sexuality-, adoption-, or race-related challenges at their children's schools. However, some parents did report challenges, and their experiences highlight the need for all early childhood educators to receive preparation for working with diverse families (Kintner-Duffy et al, 2012; Robinson, 2002). Further, the findings point to a number of practical strategies that schools can implement to ensure affirming treatment of LG and adoptive parent families as well as curricular inclusion of LG and adoptive family experiences.…”

“…Reluctance to discuss sexual and family diversity may also stem from religious beliefs (Kintner-Duffy, Vardell, Lower, & Cassidy, 2012; Maney & Cain, 1997; Robinson, 2002), lack of exposure to LG parents (Casper & Schultz, 1999; Kintner-Duffy et al, 2012), and concerns about resistance from parents and school officials (Martino & Cumming-Potvin, 2011). Notably, once teachers have received preparation for working with LG parent families, they report greater comfort addressing LGBT issues in their classroom (Kintner-Duffy et al, 2012). In the absence of such preparation, teachers may explicitly or implicitly create an environment where LG parent families feel excluded or mistreated.…”

A Tale of Two Mommies: (Re)Storying Family of Origin Narratives

“…Their children often contend with negative social climates, particularly in the school context, the primary site for peer bullying. Studies still find teachers and staff unprepared (Kintner-Duffy, Vardell, Lower, & Cassidy, 2012) and sometimes even uncomfortable (Averett & Hegde, 2012) when working with co-mothers and their children. Co-mothers internalize the negative cultural messages encoded in these interactions (Broad, Alden, Berkowitz, & Ryan, 2008) reporting higher levels of internalized homophobia compared to lesbians without children (Demino, Appleby, & Fisk, 2007).…”