Research background

When entering the 21st century, school leadership remains ‘the final unrecognised and unexamined closet’ (Lugg and Koschoreck 2003, p. 4) for people who identify as lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB)* as there was a notable lack of research in this area. However, along with the increasing rights and freedoms that lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people have won in western societies, research concerning the intersection of sexuality and school leadership has been expanding in recent years. Therefore, it is necessary to review the current status of literature surrounding LGB school leaders and leadership. In doing so, it could provide insights into educational diversity and school leadership preparation programmes, as well as the possibilities for further research in the field of educational leadership.

Research objective and questions

This study attempts to explore current knowledge about LGB school leaders and leadership in western societies, where most available literature is located. Through examining the literature, it aims to answer the following three questions:

1. How do LGB school leaders navigate their sexual identities in the workplace?

2. How do LGB school leaders perform leadership in heteronormativity with their disadvantaged sexual identities?

3. What are other research focuses regarding LGB school leaders and leadership? What are the possibilities for further research in this field?

Conceptual framework

This research intends to explore the intersection of sexuality and school leadership through queer theory and authentic leadership model.

Queer theory

Evolving from questioning the exclusivity of the ‘lesbian and gay’ movement in late 1980s, queer theory was established to expose and disrupt historic, cultural, and social norms regarding gender and sexual identities constructed by hegemonic heteronormativity (Courtney 2014, Evans 2020). When being introduced to explore educational leadership, queer theory asks school leaders ‘to blur the boundary between heterosexual and homosexual at the same time as it demands that they blur the boundary between leader and follower’ (Rottmann 2006, p. 13).  

Rottmann (2006) constructed a conceptual lens using queer theory, in an effort to explore its potential contributions to challenging and disrupting normative structures in the field of educational management and leadership. Subsequently, several studies employed queer theory to interpret the experiences of LGB school leaders and their leadership, including managing their outness at school (Brown 2016; Evans 2020), challenging heteronormativity in practice (Courtney 2014), and their influence and contributions to the education sector (Syng 2018).

Authentic leadership

Authentic leadership is ‘the linked assumptions, beliefs about, and actions related to authentic self, relationships, learning, governance, and organisation, through significant human values, to leadership and management practices that are ethically and morally uplifting’ (Duigan and Bhindi 1997, p. 208, cited in Bolt 2018, p. 13). In other words, authentic leadership demands school leaders be true to their own values, beliefs, and ethics and to lead schools in practice with these characteristics.

Bolt (2018) utilised authentic leadership to explore the experiences of lesbian school leaders in pursuing leadership positions at school, highlighting the importance of authenticity concerning sexualities in becoming effective school leaders. Lee (2020a, 2020b) applied authentic leadership to both qualitative and quantitative research, exploring LGB aspiring school leaders’ outness about sexualities in the workplace, as well as the extent to outness influence their self-perceptions of authenticity by comparing with heterosexual counterparts.

* LGBT is a common umbrella term where T stands for transgender. However, to date, while a few studies has been carried out concerning transgender teachers, no research with a particular regard for transgender school leaders has been conducted. So, this study uses the term of LGB instead of LGBT.

I used a literature-review approach to conduct this study. Data collection For resource searching, I used Google Scholar, Sage Publications, Taylor & Francis, Educational Journals Overview (ERIC), ProQuest, and the online library of the University. Moreover, I used the snowball method to identify more resources through tracking the references and citations in the literature. The keywords and related terms that have been chosen for searching and collecting resources are as follows: 1. LGB/LGBT/gay/lesbian/bisexual/queer/queering/homosexual/homosexuality/ non-heterosexual/non-heterosexuality 2. school leaders/school administrator/school principals/headteachers/school superintendents 3. school leadership/leading schools/educational leadership/education leadership After the resource searching process, I have gathered 61 pieces of existing literature. Then, I used the following inclusion and exclusion criteria to screen and sample the resources. Inclusion criteria 1. The literature was peer reviewed, or considered as scholarly sources such as doctoral dissertations and documentaries. 2. The literature was published between 2000 to 2021, but some of the earlier articles were used for term definitions and comparisons where needed. 3. The research was conducted in European countries and other western societies. Exclusion criteria 1. The research was conducted in high education or further education sector. 2. The context of leadership was not restricted within education sector. 3. Research that focused on non-heterosexual teachers or students. As a result, I have sampled 30 pieces of literature as the research data for this study, including 18 journal articles, 10 doctoral dissertations, one master’s dissertation and one documentary film promoted by the Department of Education in England. These collected data were examined and assessed using thematic analysis approach. Data analysis I followed the six steps of thematic analysis from Braun and Clarke (2006) and Bryman (2016) to analyse the data. Firstly, I read through the literature and familiarised myself with it. Following that, I began coding the materials. These initial codes were generated and recorded in the matrix I created with Microsoft Word. Then, I organised these codes and sought to elaborate them into potential themes, which were developed based on the proposed research questions. Next, I reviewed the themes and codes, and developed sub-themes and dimensions among the codes. After that, I examined the possible links and interconnections between the sub-themes and code dimensions, such as temporal sequence and contrast. Finally, I finalised the findings, and wrote up the report with my analysis and discussion.

This study intends to answer the following three research questions: 1. How do LGB school leaders navigate their sexual identities in the workplace? The way in which LGB school leaders manage their sexual identities at work varies depending on the context in which they are situated. Their outness degree can be divided into three categories: (1) completely closeted; (2) semi-out; and (3) completely out; and each approach involves different factors and tension. 2. How do LGB school leaders perform leadership in heteronormativity with their disadvantaged sexual identities? LGB school leaders usually adopt two different ways of leading schools suffused with heteronormativity. While some conform to the heteronormative status quo in order to maintain their job security, others attempt to challenge and disrupt heteronormativity in practice. Through tackling homophobia among students, introducing LGB issues into the curriculum, and engaging in activism, they might be able to challenge gender and sexuality norms constructed by inherent heteronormativity to some extent. Furthermore, a few LGB school leaders endeavour to promote diversity and equity in the wider community by increasing their visibility as diverse role models, and by working with other traditionally underserved groups. 3. What are other research focuses regarding LGB school leaders and leadership? What are the possibilities for further research in this field? In addition to LGB school leaders’ outness and their leadership, recent research has touched on other elements including LGB school leaders’ merits, intersectionality of sexuality and other identities, and LGB School Leadership Preparation Programmes. However, I argue that there might be many other LGB educators still struggling with their sexualities and/or career development, to whom attention needs to be paid in the future. Moreover, I suggest that the current studies have not adequately investigated the intersectionality of sexuality and other identities regarding LGB school leadership.

Bolt, R. (2018). The experiences of Virginia lesbian educators in pursuing leadership roles (Doctoral dissertation, Regent University). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. (10841154) Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006) ‘Using thematic analysis in psychology’, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), pp. 77-101. Brown, T. B. (2016). How Lesbian and Gay K-12 Public School Administrators Transform Themselves Into Out, Proud School Leaders. Drexel University. Retrieved from: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/190326791.pdf Bryman, A. (2016) Social research methods, Alan. 5th edn. New York: Oxford University Press. Courtney, S. J. (2014). Inadvertently queer school leadership amongst lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) school leaders. Organization, 21(3), 383-399. Evans, C. M. (2020). The Intersection of Queerly Leading: Lived Experiences of K-12 Queer School Leaders (Doctoral dissertation, Florida Atlantic University). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. (28157649) Lee, C. (2020a). Courageous Leaders: Promoting and supporting diversity in school leadership development. Management in Education, 34(1), 5-15. Lee, C. (2020b). How does openness about sexual and gender identities influence self-perceptions of teacher leader authenticity?. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 1741143220929036. Lugg, C. A., & Koschoreck, J. W. (2003). The final closet: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered educational leaders. Journal of School Leadership, 13(1), 4-6. Rottmann, C. (2006). Queering educational leadership from the inside out. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 9(1), 1-20. Syng, R. A. (2018). The unsung gay heroes of American education: the lived experiences of the gay and lesbian educator (Doctoral dissertation, Kansas State University). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. (10980729)