When Does “Too Early” Become “Too Late”? Reflections of Croatian Secondary School Educators on the Persistence of LGBT Taboos in the Education System

Abstract

The article presents one of the topics generated by a thematic analysis of data collected through a focus group process within the scientific research project LGBT (In)Visibility in School: The Educators’ Perspective, which focused on the taboo position of sexual and gender diversity within the education system. In four focus groups conducted with secondary school educators in Zagreb, the participants identified certain key factors in perpetuating such a position: the understanding of the child/student as an innocent being whose sexual education should begin at a time that educators themselves are unable to determine, the perception of parents as barriers to the inclusion of topics of sexual and gender diversity in the curriculum, and the absence of a systematic, LGBT-inclusive approach to teaching about sexuality. The concluding part of the article discusses the limitations of the research conducted and makes recommendations for future empirical and practical coverage of this topic.

Keywords

• educators
• focus groups
• lgbt-inclusive curriculum
• parental rights
• sexuality education