A scoping review of LGBTQIA+ inclusion in Queensland's North Coast Region secondary school policies

Kahlia Seeley and Alison Bedford
University of Southern Queensland, Australia

LGBTIQA+ youth in Australia have reported negative experiences in secondary schooling contexts (Hill et al., 2021) despite governing bodies prioritising inclusion and wellbeing for all students (Department of Education, 2022). The objective of this study was to undertake a scoping review of research on LGBTQIA+ inclusive policies and their impact upon LGBTQIA+ youth, followed by a review of policies from secondary schools in the Queensland North Coast Region to evaluate if these policies align with research-based evidence, using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis Protocols Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) protocol (Page et al., 2021). Findings show there is a large body of confirmatory research that provides actionable strategies for improving outcomes for LGBTQIA+ youth in Australian school-based contexts, yet this is not being enacted in secondary schools. These findings make evident the urgency by which inclusion policies and practices must be actioned in secondary schools.
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Authors: Kahlia Seeley (corresponding author) is a Guidance Officer with the Department of Education, Queensland. She holds a Masters in Education from University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia. Her interest in research, policy and practice is in the areas of wellbeing, inclusion and behaviour support for young people. Email: ksank7@eq.edu.au Dr Alison Bedford is a Lecturer in Curriculum and Pedagogy, School of Education, at the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia. Her research interests include the ways in which different social groups are represented in literature and policy and the impact this has on students' lived experience. She also researches the construction of national identities in history curricula. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6708-9896 Email: alison.bedford@usq.edu.au We have no known conflict of interest to disclose. Please cite as: Seeley, K. & Bedford, A. (2023). A scoping review of LGBTQIA+ inclusion in Queensland's North Coast Region secondary school policies. Issues in Educational Research, 33(3), 1161-1189. http://www.iier.org.au/iier33/seeley.pdf