Safe harbours in treacherous waters: Leading pride groups in schools

Abstract Pride groups are widely recognised in international literature as fostering inclusion, improving school climate, and reducing bias-based bullying for LGBTIQA + youth. This qualitative study explores how leadership of school-based pride groups in Tasmanian public schools is understood and practised by key stakeholders. Drawing on the thematic analysis of interviews with school staff and focus groups with pride group participants, the research highlights the transformative potential of these student-led groups. Our findings affirm this outcome in the Tasmanian context, with students describing pride groups as essential spaces of safety, belonging, and affirmation in school environments that often remain hostile or unsupportive. At the same time, the findings highlight the structural limitations that constrain these groups. Pride groups are frequently hampered by reliance on voluntary staff labour, inconsistent institutional recognition, and narrow policy framings that valourise visible, student-led leadership while overlooking the relational and emotional labour young people perform. The findings caution against responsibilising LGBTIQA+ students to lead cultural change without adequate support, and foreground the need to recognise care-based, relational forms of leadership that are central to how these groups operate. This study contributes to a growing body of research that calls for a more nuanced understanding of student leadership and systemic responsibility in fostering inclusion in schools. Ensuring that pride groups serve both as refuges from hostile environments and platforms for agency will require sustained institutional commitment, recognition of diverse leadership practices, and structural support for the staff and students who carry the important work of pride group leadership.