Examination of factors related to Yogo teachers’ confidence in handling sexual minority students:

Comparison between elementary, junior high, and senior high schools

Abstract

　This study aims to identify the present situations and challenges of Yogo teachers in handling LGBT pupils and students at different types of schools by examining the factors related to the teachers' confidence in handling sexual minorities. Between December 14, 2017 and February 28, 2018, the study sent a questionnaire to Yogo teachers at public elementary schools and junior high schools (503 elementary schools and 260 junior high schools) and collected the answers by post. The response rates were 62.4% (314 schools) among elementary schools and 62.9% (180 schools) among junior high school schools. The study used the data of 93 ordinary high schools collected by Ide, et al. (2018). A comparative examination of the data based on the school types identified that the teachers' confidence is influenced by the extent of knowledge, the number of experiences in dealing with LGBT pupils/students, and school systems. The influential elements, however, have different levels of impact on confidence among different school types. In elementary and junior high schools, Yogo teachers with more knowledge are more confident in handling sexual minority children, while teachers in high schools are not affected by the extent of their knowledge. In terms of the impact of the number of experiences in handling LGBT pupils/students, no difference was observed between elementary and junior high school teachers, while high school teachers with more experiences are observed to have more confidence in handling students under such category. As for the impact of school system on Yogo teachers' confidence, the results suggested that only high school teachers are affected by the school system. In conclusion, the study did not identify a significant difference between elementary schools and junior high schools in terms of elements affecting Yogo teachers' confidence in handling LGBT pupils/students, while it was suggested that the elements affecting high school teachers' confidence is different from that of the other two school types.