Rainbow students’ experiences in New Zealand’s vocational education system: do they feel safe, included and supported?

ABSTRACT Existing international and national research on rainbow students’ experiences in tertiary education focuses primarily on universities; such research within polytechnics is rarer. This study explores how safe, welcoming, and inclusive 14 polytechnic campuses are for rainbow students in New Zealand. The article reports rainbow student perspectives on the topic, drawn from responses to open‐field online survey questions. Two hundred and fifty‐six rainbow students completed the survey, and a subset of these participants responded to the open‐field questions (there were varying numbers of responses per question). An inductive thematic analysis of the data was then undertaken. Roughly equal numbers of participants reported negative campus experiences (e.g. bullying, discrimination, cis‐heteronormative ‘humour’, snide remarks, misgendering and deadnaming) as reported feeling included, welcomed and like a ‘normal’ student. Strategies suggested for creating more inclusive campuses included installing more gender‐neutral toilets, and integrating sexual and gender diversity within institutional policies, processes, and teaching practices. There is variation in rainbow student reporting regarding the safety and inclusivity of New Zealand polytechnic campuses. Although participants’ suggestions for improvement are instructive, they may be difficult to implement in New Zealand’s current climate of political conservatism.