Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on LGBT studies
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Managing LGBTQ Students in the Classroom: A Proposed Inclusive Education Framework
Rosalie Palaroan, Hangyu Wang, Pengyu Lin, Rakiba Sultana, Zhou Qingqing and Keyi Jiang
ABSTRACT:
In China, LGBTQ groups still lack specialized legal protection, most Chinese schools also do not have corresponding policies for protecting LGBTQ students. LGBTQ refers to groups of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, and queer, which is common in universities and colleges worldwide. The school is responsible for ensuring LGBTQ students’ safety and providing intervention programs focusing on inclusion. This study aims to investigate LGBTQ college students’ experiences in school and develop an inclusive educational framework for a safe and positive learning environment. The philosophical worldview that has been adopted in this study is social constructivism combined with interpretivism. To strengthen the methodology, a Queer theory was also applied as a theoretical lens or perspective in this qualitative research. The study collected 150 college participants chosen through snowball sampling. Qualitative data was gathered through online survey questionnaires, in-depth interviews, audio-video recordings, and documents. All the qualitative data were analyzed using narrative and thematic analysis. The study findings revealed that LGBTQ students in China fear disclosing their sexual or gender identity due to the discrimination they experience on campus, coupled with inadequate support from both their parents and existing university policies. The average social acceptance level of LGBTQ students stands at a neutral stance, with more people holding an exclusive attitude towards that. It suggests a more comprehensive counseling system and diversified clubs to be established at school to support the LGTBQ students’ community. The study has developed an inclusive educational framework that is significant to students, teachers, and school administrators as the primary research output of the study.
keywords: China, higher education, inclusive education, LGBTQ, social acceptance