Our research questions:
What do LGBTQ+ educators need to thrive in Vermont?
As LGBTQ+ educators, how can we sustain our roles in the profession?
 

We are Critical: We aim to deconstruct unjust power hierarchies and inequities in systems of education and research. We strive to name and repair harm caused by oppressive systems in our research and in our schools (racism, colonialism, homophobia, ableism, classism, colorism, cis-heteronormativity, etc.).

We are Participatory: Principal Investigators and participants are all positioned as co-researchers in our project. We co-construct norms and shared agreements. We use a consensus decision-making model. We honor the diverse range of gifts we each bring to our community. Each co-researcher makes decisions about how and where our research is shared and discussed. We value autonomy, agency, and privacy.

We take Action: We design action plans that work for transformative social change and study our process. Right now, this action is building a network of LGBTQ+ educators in Vermont, with the hopes that this network will create capacity for more change over time.

We do Research: We study our own process through a lens of transformative, liberatory social change. We are currently learning from adrienne maree brown's Emergent Strategy, and using these ideas as a theoretical and analytical lens to design, assess, and sustain our work together. We also participate in national and local research communities. 

Because we do research, we have findings. Our findings include...

First, Vermont's LGBTQ+ educators feel a sense of isolation in our professional environments. LGBTQ+ educators are often the only out queer educators in their building. 

Second, LGBTQ+ Educators in Vermont need communities where we can show up as our authentic selves. Simply existing in schools as LGBTQ+ educators can be an exhausting form of resistance to long-standing and newly emergent systems of oppression. Creating community outside of formal school spaces helped us build trust and envision positive futures together.

Third, LGBTQ+ Educators in Vermont need opportunities to experience shared joy. We are accustomed to supporting each other through trauma in our professional environments, where LGBTQ+ educators often experience fear and anxiety. As we studied our own work together, we found that we built community through shared stories of trauma early in the project. It took more time, trust, and connection to experience shared joy.

Because we have findings, we take action! In light of these findings, we are focusing our 2023-2027 work on building community and capacity by organizing in-person meet ups to get connected around the state. If you have an idea for an in-person meet up, or if you would like to host one in your area, let us know.

For more information about our research or to read our papers and publications, please email teachoutvt@gmail.com.