Countering heteronormativity and cisnormativity in Australian schools: Examining English teachers' reflections on gender and sexual diversity in the classroom

Examining the voices of English teachers regarding the extent to which Australian high schools are providing inclusive environments, this paper aims to generate deeper understandings about countering cisnormativity and heteronormativity. Drawing on a qualitative study conducted in Western Australia, the theoretical framework meshes the lenses of Bakhtin (1981) and Foucault (1995) to create an emergent model, integrating concepts such as the panoptic surveillance, dialogic utterances and heteroglossic language. Results reveal how teacher discourses concerning the provision of LGBTQI curriculum and resources, link to networks of power, and are imbued with a multiplicity of patterns, tensions and contradictions.