The study demonstrates the suitability of the interactive research approach. When the academy interacted with practitioners common knowledge was created. A core result of the article is the development of a model for sustainable learning. In the centre is a learning process for the integration of theory and practice.
To improve equality in schools and to facilitate the identification of oppressive features of the classroom, a framework to indicate the heterosexual norm and its consequences is needed. The purpose of this paper is to construct this framework through a review of literature focusing on the school setting and texts related to equality in Swedish schools. Seven themes indicating the norm were found and denoted: repetition of desirability, dichotomization of sexes, differentiation of sexualities, hierarchy of positions, marginalization, issue making and personation. It is concluded that the framework could benefit from being applied on empirical material and that further attention should be paid to the various subject positions that the framework should address.
Although legislation has made achievements to strengthen the rights of homosexual people in many European countries, the school setting seems to be a place where it can be hard to be open as a homosexual person. This article presents articulations of what it is to be homo- or bisexual as a teacher, based on a discourse analysis. The empirical material suggests two different discursive approaches described as vigilance and resource, suggesting different realities of these teachers. It is interpreted that it is not enough only to rely on laws and a positive mind-set of the general public. An explicit support from colleagues is suggested to be crucial to facilitate this group’s prerequisites to participate equally compared to norm conforming colleagues.
Diversity, as seen in this article from a sexual orientation perspective, is currently an emerging topic on many levels in Europe. This article sets out to examine how future teachers and educators articulate that very aspect of diversity; normative ideas about sexuality that tend to oppress and that are related to educational settings. The understanding of how future educators engage in this topic is a key factor for future work promoting the inclusion of lesbian, gay, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people in schools and enriching school life for all. This supports establishing a positive climate, which ultimately helps students to thrive in a democratic environment (Lerner & Boyd, 2013). This is a challenge on all levels of the educational system: policy- and governance-wise as well as on the level of institutions and individuals.