Developmental Order for Effective Staff Training Planning
A Developmental Order for Effective Staff Development Planning
From our experience with faculty inservices about GLBTQ issues in several schools, we have learned that there is a desirable developmental order for approaching and dealing with this sensitive area. Even though most principals do know their faculty’s attitudes about many things, it is important to begin with a check-in about personal attitudes before going into any sort of discussion or action plan about issues. Since this is a subject that has not been a usual topic of discussion, there may be discomfort that is hard to express. No one can begin to deal with issues in the classroom until personal attitudes are clear.
Before proceeding with any workshop the administrative leader must make it clear that all staff are expected to put aside their personal religious or moral beliefs about whether homosexuality is good or bad. The important point is that it is a professional responsibility for all teachers to meet the needs of all their students whether they agree with who or what a child or his family is.
This order is recommended as a starting place for working with administrative leaders in planning what is appropriate for an individual school’s needs:
I. Awareness-building
Use a self-assessment instrument such as the Riddle Scale and a personal inventory to discover individual attitudes. (Section 4) Give people time to process honestly. Survey student attitudes and behaviors to answer the question: Where are we
and what does our school need to change in how we treat glbtq people/issues?
Other surveys can help you discover what resources your school offers to support
glbtq parents/students.
II. Building Common Understanding
Build a common vocabulary (Section 3) which will begin a common knowledge base for basic understanding. Use the testimonials in Section 2 to personalize the issues so staff sees that glbtq issues encompass a broad range of people. Use the myth-busting pages as well as “What We Need to Know About Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” found in Section 5. Finally, invite a panel of glbtq persons to share their personal stories and answer questions as a way to put a face on the issues. All schools that have used a panel report that it was the most powerful aspect of the training. Speaking Out and BVSSC can help you find speakers for such a panel.
III. Action: What Can Teachers Do?
Individual actions that are not necessarily part of the curriculum are important in conveying an attitude of acceptance of all children. Ways to stop harassment, comfortably acknowledging when it is appropriate that some families have same-gender parents, watching for the teasing about gender expression, changing consent forms for parents to be more inclusive are simple actions. Section 4 offers this and more.
IV. Action: What Can A School Do?
Staff Development can advance to dealing with Heterosexism, linking oppressions. Make a school plan to change: parent education, curriculum fusion. See Sections 4-5.
|
