The inclusion of the gender/sexual-affective spectrum in English language teacher educationan international proposal within the European Union

Abstract

The education system reinforces cisheteronormative norms, often portraying traditional gender roles and heteronormative relationships, thus covertly discriminating against cishetero women and LGBTQ+ individuals. This lack of inclusion is both institutional —due to the absence of binding EU educational guidelines on gender diversity—, and individual —as many educators lack understanding of the topic—. While interventions exist to raise awareness of gender and sexual orientations, they often overlook non-normative identities beyond homosexuality in EFL classrooms. This Ph.D. dissertation addresses this gap by proposing an international, asynchronous online training course for EFL teachers, following the ADDIE-X model. The results show that participants improved their understanding of gender and sexual-affective identity issues, shifted their prior misconceptions, and became more willing to incorporate these topics into their teaching, which highlights the need for broader access to such training across the EU.