Lessons in Lockdown: Rethinking LGBTQ+ Inclusion in Post-Pandemic English Secondary Schools—Teachers’ Perspectives
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The year 2025 marks the fifth anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, a crisis that profoundly disrupted secondary schools in England and intensified existing inequalities, including those experienced by LGBTQ+ students. Through an analysis of teacher interviews and the lens of intimate citizenship, this article explores how pandemic-driven changes, such as remote learning, school closures, and ‘social bubbles’, exposed the precariousness of LGBTQ+ inclusion and embodiment within educational institutions. The research highlights how cisheteronormativity was sustained through symbolic institutional compliance and cisheteronormative fragility, as LGBTQ+ inclusion was deprioritised through the erasure of safe spaces and restrictions on self-expression. While previous research has primarily focused on students’ well-being, this article centres the perspectives of teachers to consider what can be learned from their experiences to better support students in future crises. The pandemic revealed critical gaps in inclusion efforts, underscoring the urgent need for proactive strategies that extend beyond individual teacher initiatives or informal, hidden curriculum practices. The findings emphasise that LGBTQ+ visibility and inclusion must be structurally embedded within curricula, school policies, and teacher training and that the emotional and relational labour of inclusion must be institutionally recognised rather than left to individual educators.
Source: Social Sciences
Author: EJ-Francis Caris-Hamer
Institution: University of Essex
Language: English
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,172
OpenAlex ID: W4414652286