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In a rapidly evolving educational landscape, LGBTQ+ beginning teachers still face systemic challenges, including heteronormative school cultures, lack of representation, and inconsistent institutional support. LGBTQ+ Inclusion in Teacher Education is the essential guide for transforming teacher education and early career support into truly inclusive, affirming practice.
In four distinct parts, the book guides readers from entry into the profession, through mentoring and identity development, to inclusive pedagogy and, finally, the systems of leadership, policy and school culture that shape long-term belonging and progression.
Rooted in research but practice led, the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ teachers and teacher educators provide a vivid account of navigating Initial Teacher Education as a beginning teacher. Together, the chapters show that LGBTQ+ inclusion must not be an optional add-on, but a foundational element of teacher education and school leadership.
Across the four sections, each author demonstrates how early choices, professional relationships, classroom practice and institutional structures collectively enable or constrain LGBTQ+ teachers, while equipping readers with research informed strategies to build more inclusive, affirming and sustainable educational environments.
Whether you are a beginning teacher, teacher educator, school leader or mentor, LGBTQ+ Inclusion in Teacher Education equips you to create affirming environments where all educators, and by extension, all pupils, can thrive. In a time when LGBTQ+ rights and representation in education are increasingly politicised, this is a timely, hopeful roadmap for lasting change.
Adam Brett is Researcher and Lecturer in Education at the University of Derby, UK.
Catherine Lee MBE is Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, Education and Social Sciences at Anglia Ruskin University, UK.
Rhiannon Love is Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Education at the University of Winchester, UK.
Julie Wharton is Senior Lecturer at the University of Winchester, UK.
Gary Pykitt is Senior Lecturer in Primary Initial Teacher Education at Birmingham City University, UK.
Introduction; Catherine Lee MBE, Adam Brett, Rhiannon Love, Julie Wharton, and Gary Pykitt
Part 1. Entering the Profession: Identity, Belonging and Early Experiences
Introduction; Adam Brett, Catherine Lee MBE, Rhiannon Love, Julie Wharton, and Gary Pykitt
Chapter 1. Choosing an Inclusive ITE Provider: A Guide for Prospective LGBT+ Trainee Teachers; George White
Chapter 2. Navigating Personal and Professional Identity; Scotty Cartwright and Martha Crowfoot-Riggs
Chapter 3. Developing Networks of Support; Jo Brassington
Chapter 4. The Importance of Teacher Trade Unions; Huw Tindall-Jones
Chapter 5. Creating Cultures of Belonging in Schools for LGBTQ+ Beginning Teachers; Julie Wharton and Rhiannon Love
Chapter 6. School Culture and the Early Career Experience of LGBTQ+ Teachers; Charlotte Feather
Chapter 7. Becoming and Belonging: LGBTQ+ Early Career Teachers Navigating the First Years of Teaching; Catherine Lee MBE and Dean Barber
Conclusion; Adam Brett, Catherine Lee MBE, Rhiannon Love, Julie Wharton, and Gary Pykitt
Part 2. Mentoring, Coaching and Professional Support
Introduction; Adam Brett, Catherine Lee MBE, Rhiannon Love, Julie Wharton, and Gary Pykitt
Chapter 8. ITT Quality Compliance Criteria and Mentoring: Minding the Gaps; Leanne Gould and Gary Pykitt
Chapter 9. Let’s Talk about Identity: How Understanding Teacher Professional Identity (TPI) can Enhance the Coaching Experience for Coaches; Nathan Douglas
Chapter 10. Mentor Practices for Supporting LGBTQ+ Beginning Teachers; Jessica Whetton
Chapter 11. Affirming Mentorship: Supporting LGBTQ+ Beginning Teachers to Explore their Teacher Identity; Dean Barber
Conclusion; Adam Brett, Catherine Lee MBE, Rhiannon Love, Julie Wharton, and Gary Pykitt
Part 3. Embedding LGBTQ+ Inclusion into Professional Practice
Introduction; Adam Brett, Catherine Lee MBE, Rhiannon Love, Julie Wharton, and Gary Pykitt
Chapter 12. Navigating LGBTQ+ Inclusion and Conservative Religious Beliefs with Compassion and Respect; Alexis Stones and Hannah Jayne
Chapter 13. “Beyond Subject Boundaries.” Preparing Initial Teacher Education Beginning Teachers to Teach LGBTQ+ Content through a Whole Cohort PSHE Study Programme; Sarah Hall
Chapter 14. Stronger Together: Supporting ITE Students in Building LGBTQ+ Communities of Practice; Rhiannon Love, Catrina Kirkland, and Yentl Love
Chapter 15. Having the Conversations: Embedding LGBTQ+ Inclusion in Secondary Teacher Training; Tasnim Husain Curtis and Kerrie Parsons
Chapter 16. Professionalism and Queer Pedagogies; Charlotte Feather
Conclusion; Adam Brett, Catherine Lee MBE, Rhiannon Love, Julie Wharton, and Gary Pykitt
Part 4. Inclusive School Cultures, Leadership and Policy
Introduction; Adam Brett, Catherine Lee MBE, Rhiannon Love, Julie Wharton, and Gary Pykitt
Chapter 17. Inclusive Spaces beyond Labels: Recognising and Respecting the Community Context; Ela McSorley and Philip McCahill
Chapter 18. Language and Labelling: How Words Shape Ethos in Schools; Julie Wharton
Chapter 19. School Governors’ Role in Promoting the Inclusion of LGBTQ+ Beginning Teachers; Andrew Moffat
Chapter 20. Supporting LGBTQ+ Early Career Teachers to Become School Leaders; Catherine Lee MBE
Conclusion; Adam Brett, Catherine Lee MBE, Rhiannon Love, Julie Wharton, and Gary Pykitt