Are tomorrow's teachers ready to deal with diverse students?

Wyatt, T, Oswalt, S, White, C, & Peterson, F. (2008). Are tomorrow's teachers ready to deal with diverse students?. Teacher Education Quarterly, 171-185

Kosciw, J. G. and Diaz, E. M. (2006). The 2005 National School Climate Survey: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in our nation's schools. New York: GLSEN.

            I will be researching the extent of the effort to prevent an anti-gay bias in teachers at all levels of education through both teacher workshops and programs within individual schools.  I will also attempt to reveal the positive and negative effects of implementing these programs within schools at various levels of education (elementary, middle, and high school).

            The idea of pre-service teacher education is focused on allowing future educators to understand various populations of students they may come into contact with during their work so as to provide a healthy and accepting learning environment for students otherwise neglected by their peers and often other members of society.  The article focused on studying the attitudes of pre-service educators (meaning those still in school studying Education) toward both gay men and lesbians.  The study stated that there had not previously been a study specifically measuring the sexual orientation biases held by teachers educating at any level in the education system, and conducting a survey such as this could potentially reveal gaps within the education system into which gay and lesbian students tend to fall due to an inability to find support from their administrators and teachers alike.  The study was conducted at two Central/South Texas universities and was mostly comprised of female candidates; the method of research was a detailed questionnaire questioning beliefs, general knowledge, and attitudes about sexuality and the sexual minority that were held by the pre-service educators.  The results of the study found that although a majority of the candidates felt they were well-informed in terms of sexuality issues, their knowledge regarding the struggles of gay and lesbian students was far from satisfactory in terms of creating a safe and supportive environment for these minority students to attain a higher education.

            This article pertains directly to my research topic as it reveals that educators are far from being adequately trained to work with gay and lesbian students although they often receive extensive training on the cultural and social aspects of ethnic minority students.  Teachers and educators in general have an immense influence on whether a student is successful as they have the power to provide an environment in which the student feels comfortable learning and gaining experience for their future careers and varying life paths, as well as the responsibility to do so.  With 64 % of surveyed sexual minority students reporting feeling unsafe in their schools in 2006 (Kosciw & Diaz, 2006), the drop-out rate for gay and lesbian students is steadily climbing along with the number of homosexual youth that become secluded, depressed, and at times suicidal.  The issue of sexual orientation bias among teachers is a topic not often touched upon but one that must be thrust into the spotlight in order to attempt to prevent future students from suffering from under-educated and biased educators.