Cameron, Yael ThomasGaerlan, Eunice2026-05-142026-05-142026-05-13Gender and Education, ISSN: 0954-0253 (Print); 1360-0516 (Online), Informa UK Limited, 1-16. doi: 10.1080/09540253.2026.26726000954-02531360-0516http://hdl.handle.net/10292/21080This 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.© 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.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/1303 Specialist Studies in Education1608 SociologyGender Studies3904 Specialist studies in education4405 Gender studiesLGBTQIA+schoolingpracticumAhmedteachersJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1080/09540253.2026.2672600