Queer critical literacies and initial teacher education: transnational moments

Gender and sexuality diversity are still considered controversial topics in many places. Education, particularly, has been a site of heated debate about the 'appropriateness' of curricula and classroom discussions that include critical reflections on gender and sexuality. Schools and higher education institutions in many countries are characterized by heterosexist pedagogical approaches that erase, devalue or actively oppress the experiences and lived realities of queer people (see for instance LGBT Youth Scotland 2018 and OUT LGBT Well-being 2016). A queer critical literacies (QCL) approach (Govender & Andrews 2021) challenges heterosexism by promoting critical analysis and reflection on discourses and representations of gender and sexuality. QCL brings diverse representations into classrooms where these were predominantly (actively or unconsciously) excluded before, enables readings of texts that recognise and validate (a)gender and (a)sexual diversity, and critically confronts the heterosexism inherent in dominant discourses in societies that informs the production and reception of texts. QCL, like critical literacies more broadly, has a social justice agenda that seeks to transform societies through pedagogical approaches that build consciousness of systems of domination, access, diversity and design (Janks 2010).