The Experiences of LGBTQ+ Pre-Service and Qualified Teachers and Their Mental Health: A Systematic Review of International Research.

LGBTQ+ teachers are exposed to additional stressors in schools that adversely affect their mental health.

• The review synthesized findings from 20 published papers representing global experiences of both pre-service and serving teachers.
• Stressors identified include experiences of discrimination and challenges related to identity management.
• Some teachers mitigate stressor effects by separating their personal and professional identities.
• Others choose to integrate their identities to be authentic, advance social justice, or serve as visible and vocal role models.

Identity management was a central theme in the experiences of LGBTQ+ teachers and pre-service teachers.

• The review identified identity management as one of four key findings across the 20 papers.
• LGBTQ+ teachers navigated decisions about whether to disclose or conceal their sexual orientation and/or gender identity in school contexts.
• Pre-service teachers also faced identity negotiation challenges during teacher preparation programmes.
• The tension between personal and professional identity was a recurring theme across international contexts.

LGBTQ+ pre-service and qualified teachers reported experiences of discrimination in school settings.

• Discrimination was identified as one of the four primary themes emerging from the 20 reviewed papers.
• Discrimination was experienced within hetero/cis-normative school cultures.
• The review addressed how LGBTQ+ pre-service teachers disrupt hetero/cis-normative cultures in schools as a specific research question (RQ3).
• Experiences of discrimination contributed to adverse mental health outcomes among LGBTQ+ teachers.

Teacher educators demonstrated a lack of confidence in delivering LGBTQ+ inclusive content, representing a significant barrier to inclusive education.

• Lack of confidence of teacher educators was identified as one of the four key themes from the review.
• Agency of teacher educators was also highlighted as a related theme, suggesting variability in willingness to address LGBTQ+ topics.
• Teacher education programmes were found to inadequately prepare pre-service teachers for teaching LGBTQ+ inclusive education (RQ4).
• This gap in preparation was identified as an international issue across the reviewed literature.

Less is known about the specific experiences of LGBTQ+ pre-service teachers undertaking teacher preparation programmes compared to qualified teachers.

• The review specifically addressed a gap in literature regarding pre-service teacher experiences through four targeted research questions.
• Research questions examined experiences of LGBTQ+ pre-service teachers, their identity negotiation, their disruption of hetero/cis-normative cultures, and preparation quality.
• The 20 papers reviewed represented global experiences, indicating the international scope of the gap in pre-service teacher research.

Two new frameworks were developed from the review findings to support LGBTQ+ inclusion in teacher education.

• The first framework lays the foundations for embedding LGBTQ+ inclusion in teacher education contexts.
• The second framework proposes mandatory elements of curricula for initial teacher training.
• These frameworks were presented as practical outcomes of the systematic review findings.
• The frameworks were designed to address identified gaps in current teacher preparation programmes.