What are Inclusive Professional Learning Materials?

The term “inclusive learning environments” has grown more popular in recent years alongside the push for LGBTQ acceptance in schools and the movement toward culturally responsive teaching. “Inclusive,” in this sense, refers to classrooms or other learning environments in which educators, librarians, and school staff recognize their own levels of privilege as starting points for difficult conversations; are willing and prepared to use affirming language; and support a variety of narratives that challenge students to open lines of inquiry into cultural assumptions.

When it comes to queer and trans students specifically, an inclusive learning environment is one in which educators take steps to understand straight and cisgender privilege,¹ how it overlaps with other types of privilege, and what dynamic it creates in a classroom. It is one in which educators are open to learning about different identities, so they have context and language to talk about them. It is also one in which educators have the time, space, and school support to understand LGBTQ history, at least at a basic level, and how it informs current understanding of queer identities.

While this all might sound like a heavy load to put on teachers who are already notoriously short on time and resources, the barrier of entry to inclusion work is low. For example, educators can start by making small but intentional changes to the way they address groups of students, by using gender-neutral phrases such as “folks,” “everyone,” or “y’all” instead of “boys and girls,” “ladies and gentlemen,” or “you guys.” This type of change is minimal but meaningful, and signals to students who do not identify as male or female, or are questioning their own gender identity, that they belong. It also models and normalizes inclusive language for all students, regardless of identity. For smaller content changes such as this, having editable materials, rather than textbooks, can be especially useful.

Inclusive professional learning materials are those that prepare educators to create learning environments in which inclusion is normal and expected. Such resources could be texts on relevant and contextual queer history; an explanation of some of the challenges that queer and trans people face more broadly; or simply information on language, pronouns, and why they matter. Ideally, these resources recognize nuance and diversity within queer communities and engage teachers around intentionally anti-racist queer inclusion.² For early and elementary educators, this might look like resources that explain the importance of including black and brown same-sex families in a lesson on family trees. For secondary teachers, it might look like adding to the class library seminal writings by black and brown authors, such as Audre Lorde or Gloria Anzaldúa.³ Exposure to a diversity of queer ideas and narratives is important, both for students who may see themselves represented in these stories and for students who do not, to disrupt the single-story narrative.⁴

While some inclusive, teacher-facing resources already exist, teachers seldom know where to find them, how to access them, or if they can share them. Additionally, they may be unfamiliar with the concept of queer inclusion or their school may not support them in pursuing it. On top of this, logistical challenges, like time and cost of updating current teacher professional development, are prohibitive.

In short, simply creating more resources for students is not a solution to creating more inclusive classrooms. Instead, teachers and school leaders need professional development resources to understand why and how to make this happen. They need time, space, and support to take steps toward inclusion. While intentional language use is a good starting point, it should not be the end goal: Creating queer inclusion in the classroom is an ongoing effort and one that requires teachers to understand their own identities as a starting point for brave conversations.⁵

While intentional language use is a good starting point, it should not be the end goal.

School administration is critical to these efforts. School leaders and administrators should provide both base-level support—ensuring teachers know their jobs are not in jeopardy if they take this work on—but also active and ongoing support. To do this, administrators could reallocate some of the time during professional learning circles or weekly staff meetings to allow teachers to engage in this type of learning and with the resources to create it in the classroom. They could think critically about leveraging all the tools available to make this possible. One of the biggest logistical challenges to creating inclusive student learning is the rising cost of proprietary textbooks. Teacher professional learning is no different. Updating professional learning materials can be costly and time-consuming.

Together, the obstacles to inclusive professional learning and the shifts required to make it happen present a ripe opportunity for OER. By openly licensing professional learning materials for PreK–12 teachers, schools and districts could reduce costs, open opportunities for many more teachers, and create a dynamic environment to foster queer and trans inclusion.