Queer Bodies in School Spaces: Dis/orienting Practicum in Aotearoa New Zealand
Date
Authors
Cameron, Yael Thomas
Gaerlan, Eunice
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
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Volume Title
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Abstract
This article is a focused analysis of one participant’s written reflections on what it means to be a cis-gender gay man on teaching placement in an Aotearoa New Zealand primary school. Sara Ahmed’s queering of phenomenology is a powerful activation of theory offering the possibility of critical, interpretative insight into queer experience within teacher education. We demonstrate how Ahmed’s queer phenomenology might generate depth in understanding of the spatial, affective and embodied dimensions of queer student teaching experience in practicum. We show that, in Aotearoa New Zealand, heteronormativity continues to play a significant role in the experiences of LGBTQ+ student teachers. Importantly, we find queer student teachers draw on capacities of resistance in order to enact and anticipate ‘liveability’ in school spaces.Description
Keywords
1303 Specialist Studies in Education, 1608 Sociology, Gender Studies, 3904 Specialist studies in education, 4405 Gender studies, LGBTQIA+, schooling, practicum, Ahmed, teachers
Source
Gender and Education, ISSN: 0954-0253 (Print); 1360-0516 (Online), Informa UK Limited, 1-16. doi: 10.1080/09540253.2026.2672600
Publisher's version
Rights statement
© 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.