Safe Space for LGBTQ Students in Secondary School Choral Programs: A National Survey
Joshua Palkki, Michigan State University
Teacher educators should help students develop the disposition and knowledge to provide a safe and productive learning environment for all of the students in their classes (Rom, 1998). This safe environment may be of even greater importance for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer and/or questioning (LGBTQ) students due to the unique and complicated experiences they face in school. Secondary music courses may be especially important in creating safe spaces for LGBTQ students considering the fact that six of ten LGBT students surveyed by Kosciw, Greytak, Bartkiewicz, Boesen, & Palmer (2012) reported being members of high school music ensembles. Their data showed that music was the most popular extra curricular activity among students.
Victimization of LGBTQ youth (or those who are perceived to be LGBTQ) is an untiring and injurious form of bullying in schools (Hong & Garbarino, 2012; Kosciw et al., 2012). The negative effects of such bullying on LGBTQ youth are both personal and academic (Birkett, Espelage, & Koenig, 2009). Schools must take steps to provide safe spaces in which students can freely express their LGBTQ identities (Peters, 2003). “Safe space” generally is defined as a place in which students feel comfortable expressing traits that define them as “other.” The reality of creating safe space in American schools can be complicated and is inconsistent across classroom settings. Some teachers may possess less empathy for LGBTQ students, and thus fail to intervene when bullying occurs (Perez, Schanding, & Dao, 2013). Purposeful, decisive action by teachers and administrators to create safe spaces for LGBTQ youth can improve the culture of classrooms and schools (Clark, 2010; Peters, 2003). Teaching how to create safe space in music classrooms should be a vital concern for music teacher educators.
Because little has been written in music education about the influence of school music programs in the lives of LGBTQ students, the researchers wondered what role secondary school choral programs play in creating safe space for secondary students. The proposed session will present data from a national survey of LGBTQ college and university choral singers (n=1,123). Respondents reflected upon their experiences in school choral programs as they navigated their gender-sexual identity. Preliminary analysis of survey data suggests that high school choral programs were perceived as providing safe space and that choral programs were more influential in crafting safe space than were secondary schools as a whole. A majority of respondents reported having a high school choral teacher who openly spoke of their support for LGBTQ students in class. The data suggest that transgender or gender non-conforming students faced greater levels of strain when compared with their lesbian, gay, and bisexual counterparts. This session will present implications for music teacher education programs based upon the survey data. With a clearer understanding of the strategies that have worked well in creating safe spaces for LGBTQ students, music teacher educators can equip future music teachers to improve safe space efforts for their students.
References
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Hong, J. S., & Garbarino, J. (2012). Risk and protective factors for homophobic bullying in schools: An application of the social–ecological framework. Educational Psychology Review, 24(2), 271–285.
Kosciw, J. G., Greytak, E. A., Bartkiewicz, M. J., Boesen, M. J., & Palmer, N. A. (2012). The 2011 GLSEN national school climate survey: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in our nation’s schools. ERIC. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED535177
Perez, E. R., Schanding, G. T., & Dao, T. K. (2013). Educators’ perceptions in addressing bullying of LGBTQ/gender nonconforming youth. Journal of School Violence, 12(1), 64–79.
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Rom, R. B. (1998). “Safe spaces”: Reflections on an educational metaphor. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 30(4), 397–408.