LGBTQ+ Education

Integrating LGBTQ+ Topics in Swiss Primary Schools
A Human-Centred Approach

Teaching about LGBTQ+ topics at a young age is important so that students get familiar with them and are more likely to develop an open and tolerant mindset.
However, many teachers do not address it or only related to sex education and bullying prevention. This can lead to queer topics being silenced, sexualised or pathologized.

The Bachelor Thesis

I developed this bachelor thesis to graduate from my studies at Hochschule Luzern Design & Art in Design Management International. The graduation was in summer 2021 and I graduated successfully. Hurrah!

Introduction

In this chapter it is described how the bachelor thesis is designed and what the research questions and research statement is.

Literature Review

In this chapter I report on different literature sources with different aspects related to LGBTQ+ education topics.

Primary Research

This chapter includes an explanation for the methodology approach, expert interviews insights, an ethnographic interview, field observation insights and an extensive online survey conducted with 255 teachers in the canton of Lucerne.

Research Synthesis

In this chapter i synthesise all found evidence from research. The output of the research synthesis are design principles for a possible intervention.

Intervention Development

This chapter discusses the development of the intervention in three different phases. The three phases were scenarios, concept and editing of the final concept.

Final Intervention

This chapter is all about the teaching unit which is the final intervention. I report on the structure, content and design.

Intervention Evaluation

This chapter evaluates the teaching unit on design principles, value creation, risk analysis, economic viability and limitations.

Implementation

Here i report on a possible short-, mid- and long-term implementation strategy for the teaching unit.

Conclusion

The bachelor thesis is finished with a conclusion where I reflect on the thesis process and output.

References

All references used in the thesis

Appendix

Various documents relevant for the bachelor thesis.

The Teaching Unit

I. The Book

After the table of contents and short instructions this first chapter provides a brief description of the book King & King.

II. Introduction 1

Introduction 1 & 2 introduce the book King & King to the pupils. The teacher gets advice on how to implement the story and activate the pupils for a discussion.

III. Introduction 2

Introduction 1 & 2 introduce the book King & King to the pupils. The teacher gets advice on how to implement the story and activate the pupils for a discussion.

IV. Discussion

The discussion chapter helps the teacher lead a discussion to the book King & King with some interesting and deep questions.

V. Painting

In this chapter pupils can process the story in a creative way.

VI. Memory Game

A fun game with colorful illustrations illustrated by myself – I’m very proud :-). The memory can be used to activate a discussion and pick up the topic of rainbow families, same-sex love, friendship etc.

VII. Powerpoint

Introduce the topic of love and friendship with a colorful powerpoint presentation.

VIII. Information for Educator 1

This chapter gives the teacher some explanation and further resources to explore. Furthermore, it includes contacts for queer topics.

IX. Information for Educator 2

This chapter states what competences of the Lehrplan 21 / Swiss curriculum are addressed with the teaching unit.

X. Appendix

The appendix includes the memory game to print out and stories for the powerpoint presentation.

I hope you will be able to spread love and foster acceptance in your classroom. If you want to support me and further projects of mine I am happy to receive a small donation via PayPal. x Tim