Teacher perceptions on working with queer students: beliefs, attitudes, and efficacy

With the climate of education changing in the US, especially for queer students, it is important to understand teacher beliefs, attitudes, and efficacy regarding working with queer students. Research has shown that when queer students have positive interactions with teachers, it can have significant effects on their learning outcomes in the school environment. However, there is a need for current research regarding teachers’ perceptions of working with queer students, as well as how those perceptions align with teacher practice. This mixed-methods study researched current teacher perceptions in the United States, including their attitudes, beliefs, and efficacy when working with queer students. This study found that teacher beliefs and attitudes had significantly positive correlation with teacher efficacy, which in turn had significantly positive correlation with teacher action in the beliefs and attitudes scale, though teacher context had little correlation to teacher efficacy. Still, sufficient professional development had a positive correlation to teacher efficacy. This study also found that there were no significant differences between beliefs, attitudes, and efficacy among various school locations. This study provides current statistics on how teachers work with queer students and is one of the first studies to analyze in-service teacher efficacy in working with queer students.