Educator Perspectives on Exploring Gender Diversity and LGBT Parented Families in Early Childhood Settings

Diverse family structures and non-binary and transgender identities have become increasingly visible in Australia. Nonetheless, gender diversity and LGBT parented families are currently challenging topics in early child education and care (ECEC) despite their inclusion in the Early Years Learning Framework. This co-design study explored the current experiences of educators in ECEC services with respect to inclusion of LGBT families and children’s gender diversity. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ECEC educators from 17 services that were seeking training in diversity and inclusion of LGBT families. Reflexive thematic analysis generated themes relating to knowing queer people, the centrality of the boy in a dress, variations in the ways the topic is handled in ECEC programming (or not), concerns about community reactions (both LGBT and mainstream), and allyship. Findings suggest that work is needed to build educator capacity to have conversations with children, embed learning in programming, and work together with parents.