SEXUALITIES ON THE MOVE - A COMPARISON OF THE WORK EXPERIENCES OF GAY MALE EDUCATORS TEACHING OVERSEAS

Oct 15, 2026

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Compares two research projects on gay male adult educators teaching internationally, contrasting educators who relocated from Global South countries to Canada with those who relocated from Global North countries to Kosovo. Finds that participants prioritize safety and inclusiveness in workplace environments and that “sexual orientation” can constrain educational policy and practice. Frames the study within transnational teacher mobility, adult-education challenges, heteronormativity, and homophobia, then closes with recommendations for educational administrators.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Borders, Queerness, and Transnational Work

Global teacher mobility and transnational educators

Key issues: homophobia, queer representation, heteronormativity

Research purpose and comparative design

SEXUALITIES ON THE MOVE: A COMPARISON OF THE WORK EXPERIENCES OF GAY MALE EDUCATORS TEACHING OVERSEAS1 Robert C. Mizzi, University of Manitoba This paper expands on the extant research on gay male educators by comparing two research projects on such educators who taught in international settings. One study focused on five gay, male, adult educators who relocated to Canada from countries in the Global South and the second study focused on eight gay, male, adult educators who relocated to Kosovo from countries in the Global North. Both projects demonstrated that (1) study participants are concerned with the safety and inclusiveness of their work environments, and (2)“sexual orientation” can be a self-limiting concept when used in education policy and practice. Recommendations for educational administrators conclude this paper. The global expansion of teacher mobility (Arber, Blackmore, & Vongalis-Macrow, 2014; Bates, 2011) has led to educators from all areas of education (primary, secondary, postsecondary, and adult education) taking advantage of opportunities to teach in different countries. Referred to as “transnational educators,” this particular group of teachers generally cross national borders for a multitude of reasons: 1) economic and professional gain (Reid, Collins, & Singh, 2014); 2) cross-cultural experiences (Stanley, 2013); 3) better work and life conditions (McGregor, 2008); 4) as a spousal hire (Hayden & Thompson, 2011); and 5) employment as a result of grim job prospects in the country of origin (Penson, Yonemura, Sesnan, Ochs, & Chanda, 2011). For queer transnational educators, this ambition to teach overseas may be 1 The author would like to thank the two reviewers for their helpful feedback on an earlier version of this paper. complicated due to variances in social, political, and legal positions toward gender and sexuality differences across the globe (Baird, 2007; Herdt, 1997) . For this paper, I use the term queer as a representation for the spectral community of sexual and gender difference, rather than the“lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender”(LGBT) identity-categories often used in Western literature, politics, and practice. I acknowledge that both approaches (LGBT and queer) are problematic in their deployment, as both function as imprints ofa Western perspective on sexuality and gender difference and create further distance from understanding indigenous perspectives of sexuality and gender. Despite this controversy, queer allows for a spectrum of sexual and gender diversity that is useful for this paper. Significant problems exist in international education from the perspective of sexual and gender diversity. In an adult education context, the key issues include 1) ongoing homophobic and transphobic violence that affects everyone, and those with foreign citizenships are not immune to such acts in the new context (Mizzi, 2009); 2) a scarcity of queer themes and topics in international education literature (Pattison, 2010); and 3) heteronormative values that remain dominant in education discourse in general (Hill, 2013) . This paper is based on two studies that explore these subsets ofthe problem: heteronormativity and homophobia. It also addresses homophobia’s marginalizing effects on queer transnational educators and their responses to this marginalization. The purpose of this paper is to unravel some of the complexity that nuances the teaching overseas experience for queer educators. As teaching becomes increasingly globalized, queer transnational educators too can aim for a teaching career overseas, but they may need to be aware of and prepare for complex legal, social, and political contexts that may limit and regulate expression of sexuality and gender difference (Gedro, Mizzi, Rocco, & van Loo, 2013) . Questions driving the purpose of this research are these: What are the challenges facing transnational, gay, male, adult educators as they cross national borders for wo

FAQs

What two groups does the paper compare?

It compares five gay, male, adult educators who relocated from countries in the Global South to Canada, and eight gay, male, adult educators who relocated from the Global North to Kosovo.

What main concerns do study participants share about their work environments?

Participants are concerned with the safety and inclusiveness of their work environments.

How does the paper interpret “sexual orientation” in education policy and practice?

It argues that “sexual orientation” can function as a self-limiting concept when used in education policy and practice.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Muffet