Inclusion of LGBTQ+ Students in Primary Schools in Kópavogur

Principals’ perceptions and experiences

Abstract

Iceland is known for being a global leader in equality and human rights and has a strong international reputation regarding LGBTQ+ rights. In this LGBTQ+ model country, the school system and schools are also considered the primary tools for social equality. However, recent studies suggest that young LGBTQ+ individuals experience more significant discomfort in school and feel more insecure than their cisgender, heterosexual peers. This study aims to understand the status of LGBTQ+ students in the Icelandic school system and to investigate the institutional approaches for facilitating their inclusion. We chose to examine schools in one municipality, Kópavogur. We interviewed eight school administrators from eight different schools to explore how LGBTQ+ student inclusion is approached and what obstacles hinder it. We examine what in the environment, school culture, and teaching methods is inclusive for LGBTQ+ students, focusing on LGBTQ+ education, and the manifestations of the recent backlash against LGBTQ+ people.

We thematically analysed the interviews following Braun and Clarke (2013, 2021) to answer our research questions: What aspects of the environment, school culture, and teaching practices are inclusive for LGBTQ+ students, and what influences attitudes and culture? To gain a clearer picture of the situation, we also ask: What LGBTQ+ education exists in primary schools, how targeted is it, and how is it implemented? What is the experience of school administrators regarding the impact of backlash against LGBTQ+ people on the learning environment of LGBTQ+ students in schools? What systemic factors promote or hinder the inclusion of LGBTQ+ students? We coded the interviews and developed themes to answer the research questions. The themes discussed in this article are: 1. Flying the Rainbow Flag: Students receive the message that the environment is safe while cisheteronormativity remains dominant. Here, we discuss how actions for LGBTQ+ inclusion are individualised, reactive, and superficial. School practices primarily involve responding to incidents rather than implementing systematic actions aimed at the school’s environment and culture. The only tools they have are sporadic and unstructured LGBTQ+ education along with rainbow decorations, leading schools to risk sending the wrong message to LGBTQ+ students. 2. Systemic Factors that Promote Marginalisation of LGBTQ+ Students are Ignored and the Responsibility Shifted to Peers. This theme highlights how school administrators have limited awareness of the systemic factors, especially neoliberalism and cisheteronormativity, that contribute to the marginalisation and subordination of LGBTQ+ students. In their statements, common notions emerge that Iceland is exemplary regarding LGBTQ+ rights and conditions. This perception does not align with the anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment that all the administrators encounter in their schools. However, the administrators’ response is to locate the problem within a specific group of marginalised students rather than examining the overall school culture.

The results show that school administrators in Kópavogur generally support LGBTQ+ people and want to create a positive and safe school environment for LGBTQ+ students. However, there is a lack of policies and procedures from the municipality, and the schools do not receive enough professional support to tackle the issue in a radical and targeted way. As a result, administrators have few tools to address the anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment present in all schools. Their response is often to individualise a societal problem by pointing to students and parents, often of foreign origin, as the source of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment within the school. The solution to the problem thus becomes fixing these few ‘bad apples’ instead of examining the underlying attitudes and systems that marginalise LGBTQ+ students. This suggests that while school administrators hold a crucial role as both professional and social leaders in improving the learning environment for LGBTQ+ students, greater involvement from school authorities is necessary to achieve systemic changes in school practices and culture