Abstract
My book, thus far, has shown how schools in South Africa are quintessentially heterosexist and heteronormative spaces. A significant finding, and highlight, of my book is how the teachers, despite their lack of training, show a commitment to learning about sexuality diversity and teaching. The teachers’ attitudes and experiences provide new insight into the South African research on LGB issues and schooling that unlike previous research opens up new possibilities for the teaching and learning of sexuality diversity in schools. Equally striking is how the LGB youth spurred on by different experiences understand and, in turn, resist heterosexist and heteronormative practices sometimes in very hostile school spaces. And so, in this concluding chapter, I bring the various sections of the book together by opening up a conversation about what I think needs to happen in the areas of policy, curriculum, pedagogy, and teacher education.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Baxen, J., & Breidlid, A. (2004). Researching HIV/AIDS and education in sub-saharan Africa: Examining the gaps and challenges. Journal of Education, 34, 9–24.
Bhana, D. (2012). Understanding and addressing homophobia in schools: a view from teachers. South African Journal of Education, 32, 307–318.
Blumenfeld, W. (2000). How Homophobia Hurts Everyone. In Readings for Diversity and Social Justice. New York: Routledge.
Carrim, N. (1998). Anti-racism and the “New” South African Educational Order. Cambridge Journal of Education, 28(3), 301–320.
Carrim, N., & Soudien, C. (1999). Critical Antiracism in South Africa. In S. May (Ed.), Critical Multiculturalism: Rethinking multicultural and antiracist education (pp. 163–164). New York: Routledge.
Casper, V., & Schultz, S. (1999). Gay parents straight schoools: Building communication and trust. New York: Teachers College Press.
Chasnoff, D., & Cohen, H. (2009). It’s elementary: talking about gay issues in school. San Francisco: The Respect for All Project.
DePalma, R., & Francis, D. (2014a). Silence, nostalgia, violence, poverty … : What does “culture” mean for South African sexuality educators? Culture. Health & Sexuality, 16(5), 547–561. doi:10.1080/13691058.2014.891050.
DePalma, R., & Francis, D. (2014b). South African life orientation teachers: (Not) teaching about sexuality diversity. Journal of Homosexuality, 61(12), 1687–1711. doi:10.1080/00918369.2014.951256.
DePalma, R., & Francis, D. (2014c). The gendered nature of South African teachers’ discourse on sex education. Health Education Research, 29(4), 624–632. doi:10.1093/her/cyt117.
Eisner, E. (1985). The educational imagination: On the design and evaluation of school programs (2nd ed.). New York: Macmillan.
Ellis, V., & High, S. (2004). Something more to tell you: Gay, lesbian or bisexual young people’s experiences of secondary schooling. British Educational Research Journal, 30(2), 213–225. doi:10.2307/1502221.
Francis, D. (2010). Sexuality education in South Africa: Three essential questions. International Journal of Educational Development, 30(3), 314–319. doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2009.12.003.
Francis, D. (2011). Wedged within a triad of contradictory values: Sexuality education in South Africa. African Journal of Psychology, 21(2), 319–328.
Francis, D. (2012). Teacher positioning on the teaching of sexual diversity in South African schools. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 14(6), 597–611. doi:10.1080/13691058.2012.674558.
Francis, D. (2013). Sexuality education in South Africa: Whose values are we teaching? Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 22(2), 69–76.
Francis, D., & DePalma, R. (2015). “You need to have some guts to teach”: Teacher preparation and characteristics for the teaching of sexuality and HIV/AIDS education in South African schools. SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS, 12(1), 30–38.
Francis, D., & Msibi, T. (2011). Teaching about heterosexism: Challenging homophobia in South Africa. Journal of LGBT Youth, 8(2), 157–173. doi:10.1080/19361653.2011.553713.
Francis, D. A., & Reygan, F. C. G. (2016). Relationships, intimacy and desire in the lives of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth in South Africa. South African Review of Sociology, 47(3). doi:10.1080/21528586.2016.1163290.
Freire, P. (1972). Education for critical consciousness. New York: Continuum.
Helleve, A., Flisher, A., Onya, H., Mukoma, W., & Klepp, K. (2009). South African teachers’ reflections on the impact of culture on their teaching of sexuality and HIV/AIDS. Culture Health & Sexuality, 11, 189–204.
Hoosain Khan, G. (2013). Using drama to (dis)locate queer sexuality. In D. Francis (Ed.), Sexuality; society and pedagogy. Stellenbosch: SUN Media.
Hoosain Khan, G. (2014). Cross-border art and queer incursion: On working with queer youth from southern Africa. Agenda, 1–13. doi:10.1080/10130950.2014.976043.
Horton, M., & Freire, P. (1990). We make the road by walking: Conversations on education and social change. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Hugo, W., & Wedekind, V. (2013). Six failures of the pedagogic imagination: Bernstein, Beeby and the search for an optimal pedagogy for the poor. South African Review of Education, 19(1), 139–157.
Johnson, B. (2014). The need to prepare future teachers to understand and combat homophobia in schools. South African Journal of Higher Education, 28(4), 1249–1268.
Jones, T. (2009). Framing the framework: Discourses in Australia’s national values education policy. Educational Research for Policy and Practice, 8(1), 35–57. doi:10.1007/s10671-008-9058-x.
Jones, T., & Hillier, L. (2012). Sexuality education school policy for Australian GLBTIQ students. Sex Education, 12(4), 437–454. doi:10.1080/14681811.2012.677211.
Kosciw, J., & Pizmony-Levy, O. (2013). Fostering a global dialogue about LGBT youth and schools: Proceedings from a meeting of the global network combating homophobic and transphobic prejudice and violence in schools. New York: GLSEN.
Kumashiro, K. (2000). Toward a theory of anti-oppressive education. Review of Educational Research, 70, 25–53.
Kumashiro, K. (2001). “Posts” perspectives on anti-oppressive education in social studies, english, mathematics, and science classrooms. Educational Researcher, 30(3), 3–12. doi:10.3102/0013189X030003003.
Kumashiro, K. (2002). Troubling education: Queer activism and anti-oppressive pedagogy. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.
Loutzenheiser, L. W., & MacIntosh, L. B. (2004). Citizenships, sexualities, and education. Theory Into Practice, 43(2), 151–158. doi:10.1207/s15430421tip4302_9.
Manion, A., & Morgan, R. (Eds.). (2006). The gay and lesbian archives: Documenting same-sexuality in an African context. Agenda, 67.
Mayo, J. (2013). Critical pedagogy enacted in the gay–straight alliance: New possibilities for a third space in teacher development. Educational Researcher, 42(5), 266–275. doi:10.3102/0013189X13491977.
Msibi, T. (2011). The lies we have been told: On (homo) sexuality in Africa. Africa Today, 58(1), 54–77.
Msibi, T. (2012). “I”m used to it now’: Experiences of homophobia among queer youth in South African township schools. Gender and Education, 24(5), 515–533. doi:10.1080/09540253.2011.645021.
Mukoma, W., Flisher, A., Ahmed, N., Jansen, S., Mathews, C., Klepp, K., et al. (2009). Process evaluation of a school-based HIV/AIDS intervention in South Africa. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 37, 37–47.
Neary, A. (2013). Lesbian and gay teachers’ experiences of “coming out” in Irish schools. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 34(4), 583–602. doi:10.1080/01425692.2012.722281.
Ollis, D. (2010). “I haven’t changed bigots but …”: Reflections on the impact of teacher professional learning in sexuality education’. Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning, 10(2), 217–230.
Ollis, D., Harrison, L., & Maharaj, C. (2013). Sexuality education matters: Preparing pre-service teachers to teach sexuality education. Victoria: Deakin University.
Reygan, F., & Francis, D. (2015). Emotions and pedagogies of discomfort: Teachers responses to sexual and gender diversity in the Free State, South Africa. Education as Change, 19(1), 101–119. doi:10.1080/16823206.2014.943259.
Richardson, E. (2004). “A ripple in the pond”: Challenging homophobia in a teacher education course. Education as Change, 8, 146–163.
Richardson, E. (2008). Using film to challenge heteronormativity: South African teachers “get real” in working with LGB Youth. Journal of LGBT Youth, 5(2), 63–72.
Robinson, K. H., & Ferfolja, T. (2001). “What are we doing this for?” Dealing with lesbian and gay issues in teacher education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 22(1), 121–133. doi:10.1080/01425690020030828.
South African Council for Educators (2002). The handbook for the code of professional ethics. Scotsville: The Unilever Ethics Centre University of Natal.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Francis, D.A. (2017). Conclusion. In: Troubling the Teaching and Learning of Gender and Sexuality Diversity in South African Education. Queer Studies and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53027-1_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53027-1_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-53026-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-53027-1
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)