Abstract

MADUREIRA, Ana Flávia do Amaral  and  BRANCO, Ângela Uchoa. Gender, sexuality and diversity in schools from teachers' perspective. Temas psicol. [online]. 2015, vol.23, n.3, pp. 577-591. ISSN 1413-389X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.9788/TP2015.3-05.

From a sociocultural perspective, the present research analyzed 5^th to 8^th grade Middle School ("Ensino Fundamental" in Brazil) teachers' beliefs and conceptualizations about gender, sexuality and diversity in Distrito Federal, Brazil. The methodology consisted of questionnaires during the first phase of the study, answered by 122 teachers from seven different public schools. In the second phase, 10 teachers from two schools that participated in the first phase participated of individual semi-structured interviews, as well as of four focal group sessions carried out in each one of the two schools. Results show that although the majority of participants agree that schools have to develop sexual educational programs, there is a gap between the public educational policy established by the National Curriculum Guidelines and what actually happens. When there is a sexual educational project, it seems to be very limited. The study revealed the absence of specific trainings for teachers to deal with gender, sexuality and diversity issues in schools. Teachers end up dealing with such issues using their own personal experiences and opinions. There is a silence about the dimensions of affection and pleasure of the sexuality domain, and this silence seems to distance teachers' discourse from the concerns of adolescents' world. Results show the necessity of including gender and sexuality studies as an important topic in teachers' graduation courses, as well as the implementation of specific trainings to promote discussions about the historical-cultural roots and the affective basis of prejudices, adopting an integrative perspective against homophobia and sexism.

Keywords : Gender; sexuality; diversity in schools; prejudice; teachers' training.

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