RETHINKING TEACHER EDUCATION THROUGH GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION - A GROUNDBREAKING APPROACH TO LGBTQIA+ INCLUSION IN AN ITALIAN CONTEXT

Abstract

Aim: The study aims to examine how newly qualified secondary school teachers in Humanities and Literary Disciplines, who completed their training at a university in north-eastern Italy, perceive their preparedness to address LGBTQIA+ topics in the classroom. It also investigates their views on how Global Citizenship Education can serve as a framework to promote LGBTQIA+ inclusion and what changes they recommend in teacher education to better support inclusive pedagogies. Theory: The research draws on Judith Butler’s Queer Theory—particularly her concepts of gender performativity, precariousness, and the heterosexual matrix—and Pierre Bourdieu’s critical sociology, focusing on habitus, symbolic violence, field, and capital. The integration of these theories enables a dual focus on how normative discourses and institutional structures shape (and constrain) teachers’ practices and identities. Method: The study adopts a qualitative approach based on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven newly qualified secondary teachers in Humanities disciplines. Interviews were conducted in person or online and analysed through thematic content analysis using NVivo. A non-probability sampling strategy combining convenience and snowball sampling was employed to recruit participants. Results: Participants reported a widespread absence of structured training on LGBTQIA+ inclusion within their teacher education programmes. They described feelings of unpreparedness, institutional silence, and fear of parental or administrative backlash. However, many showed personal commitment and engaged in self-directed learning. The results highlight how geography, school type, and institutional culture shape inclusion efforts. Teachers identified Global Citizenship Education as a potentially valuable but underutilised framework, calling for its integration into formal curricula to support equity, diversity, and human rights.