Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to explore foundation phase teachers' perceptions of
the way in which supportive school environments are being created for children from
same-sex parented families. It focused specifically on how foundation phase
teachers perceive their role in accommodating, including, and positively representing
the same-sex parented family in their classroom practice. Current literature highlights
the negative experiences of homophobia and heteronormativity in schools, together
with the need to create more supportive school environments for children from samesex
parented families. The increasing prevalence of same-sex parented families in
South Africa has created the need for extended research in this regard, and yet there
is a gap in national literature on the school experiences of children from this nontraditional
minority family form. Foundation phase teachers play a central role in
teaching their young learners to accept and celebrate diversity. However, no
research has been done in South Africa to explore foundation phase teachers'
perspectives on their role in interrupting heteronormativity in their schools and
classrooms. This study was approached from an interpretive paradigm and
qualitative methods were employed to collect and analyse the data. Individual
interviews were conducted with four foundation phase teachers, and interpretive
thematic data analysis techniques were used to analyse the data. Culturally
responsive pedagogy was used as a framework to explore barriers to inclusion, and
to recommend ways in which foundation phase teachers in South African schools
can be supported in creating safe, positive and counter-heteronormative school
environments for children from same-sex parented families.
