[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-596628-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-596628-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","workplace-experiences-of-australian-lesbian-and-gay-teachers-findings-from-a-national-survey","WORKPLACE EXPERIENCES OF AUSTRALIAN LESBIAN AND GAY TEACHERS - FINDINGS FROM A NATIONAL SURVEY","","Workplace experiences of self-identified lesbian and gay teachers in Australia are examined through findings from a national survey. The study addresses how sexuality intersects with workplace culture and climate, focusing on factors that enable or disable a queer-positive environment across early childhood, primary, and secondary education. Against a backdrop of broader shifts toward acceptance of sexual diversity, the discussion highlights that many school workplaces still generate discrimination-related challenges affecting psychosocial wellbeing, workplace costs, productivity, and professional development.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/workplace-experiences-of-australian-lesbian-and-gay-teachers-findings-from-a-national-survey/596628/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/workplace-experiences-of-australian-lesbian-and-gay-teachers-findings-from-a-national-survey/596628.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Muffet","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-06","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",7,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What is the paper’s main focus regarding lesbian and gay teachers?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"It reports research on how self-identified lesbian and gay teachers experience their sexuality in relation to workplace factors that enable or disable a queer-positive culture and climate across different school types in Australia.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How does the paper describe discrimination faced by L/G teachers?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"It describes silencing, invisibility, and discrimination, including institutional heterosexism and homophobia, along with outcomes such as reduced wellbeing, constrained career opportunities, and employment loss.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What changes does the paper note in employment conditions over time?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It notes that broader sociocultural discourses have increasingly accepted and celebrated sexual diversity in Australia, improving some employment contexts, while many schools still produce ongoing challenges for sexuality-diverse staff.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},596628,1792208554,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},962090768927,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_085a072bc5b1113ac321206ff7593b45","WORKPLACE EXPERIENCES OF AUSTRALIAN LESBIAN AND GAY TEACHERS:  \nFINDINGS FROM A NATIONAL SURVEY1  \nTania Ferfolja, Western Sydney University,  \nand Efty Stavrou, Independent scholar  \nHistorically, lesbian and gay teachers working in schools have experienced  \nsilencing, invisibility, and discrimination. This paper reports on research that examined the experiences of self-identified lesbian and gay teachers working in a variety of school types and school systems across Australia. Specifically, it explores these teachers’ experiences of their sexuality in relation to factors associated with enabling or disabling a queer-positive culture and climate in the workplace. Although broader sociol-cultural discourses have increasingly accepted and even celebrated sexual diversity in Australia, especially over the last decade, resulting in a concomitant shift that has improved some  \nemployment contexts for some lesbian and gay teachers, this discussion  \nillustrates that many school workplaces continue to produce challenges for  \nstaff that are sexuality diverse.  \nIntroduction  \nHistorically, lesbian and gay (hereafter L/G) teachers in schools have experienced silencing and discrimination both nationally and internationally. This is disquieting considering the potential ramifications of discrimination not only upon individuals in terms of personal and professional psychosocial wellbeing, but also workplace costs, productivity, and the enabling of queer-positive workplace cultures. This paper examines the experiences of self-identified L/G teachers working in public and private, secular and religious schools in early childhood, primary, and secondary education in Australia. In particular, it explores these teachers’ experiences of  \n1 I would like to acknowledge the work of Lucy Hopkins, who was the research assistant on this project, and Jacqueline Ullman for her comments on this paper.  \ntheir sexuality in relation to factors that may be associated with enabling or disabling a queerpositive culture and climate in the workplace. Although broader discourses of equality and equity in relation to gender and sexual diversities have increased in Australia, especially over the last decade, with a concomitant shift that has improved some employment contexts for some L/G teachers, the research detailed herein illustrates that many school workplaces continue to produce challenges for these individuals.  \nSchools as Sites of Workplace Discrimination  \nThe literature published in the 21st century from a range of western, Christian-based, English-speaking regions which reflect the Australian socio-cultural context, demonstrates that identifying, or being “identified” by others as a L/G teacher remains variously problematic in terms of discrimination despite legislative changes and cultural shifts across the (Western) world (Callaghan, 2007; DeJean, 2007; Duke, 2007; Edwards, Brown, & Smith, 2014; Gray, 2013; Hardie, 2012; Harris & Jones, 2014; Meyer, 2010; Neary, 2013; Rudoe, 2014; Smith, Wright, Reilly, & Esposito, 2008) . This literature continues to point to the institutional heterosexism and homophobia prevailing in educational institutions that serves to undermine and marginalise nonheterosexual subjectivities and behaviours.  \nResearch that addresses such issues in Australian workplaces reflects international findings of inequitable treatment affecting the professional and personal lives of many sexuality and gender diverse teachers. Irwin’s (1999, 2002) research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) workplace discrimination highlighted widespread interpersonal and institutional discrimination against teachers, generalist educators, and academics. Participants reported experiencing ridicule, verbal abuse, physical and sexual assault, property damage,  \ndemeaning actions, homophobic “jokes,” and differential access to employment rights. More recently, Jones, Gray, and Harris (2014) examined new education policies related ","cbCaidQFxF5Bks1f","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidQFxF5Bks1f","pdf",532021,26,"English","# Introduction\n# Schools as Sites of Workplace Discrimination","[{\"question\":\"What is the paper’s main focus regarding lesbian and gay teachers?\",\"answer\":\"It reports research on how self-identified lesbian and gay teachers experience their sexuality in relation to workplace factors that enable or disable a queer-positive culture and climate across different school types in Australia.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper describe discrimination faced by L/G teachers?\",\"answer\":\"It describes silencing, invisibility, and discrimination, including institutional heterosexism and homophobia, along with outcomes such as reduced wellbeing, constrained career opportunities, and employment loss.\"},{\"question\":\"What changes does the paper note in employment conditions over time?\",\"answer\":\"It notes that broader sociocultural discourses have increasingly accepted and celebrated sexual diversity in Australia, improving some employment contexts, while many schools still produce ongoing challenges for sexuality-diverse staff.\"}]","WORKPLACE EXPERIENCES OF AUSTRALIAN LESBIAN AND GAY TEACHERS - FINDINGS FROM A NATIONAL SURVEY | PDF",1792083433,66]