Book Review: The Educator’s Guide to LGBT+ Inclusion

The Educator’s Guide to LGBT+ Inclusion: A Practical Resource for K-12 Teachers, Administrators, and School Support Staff, by Kryss Shane, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, ISBN-13: 9781787751088, 2020, 235 pages, paperback: $24.95; Kindle: $14.72.

    In The Educator’s Guide to LGBT+ Inclusion, Kryss Shane provides a compelling resource for K-12 educators. Her text provides a supportive tool for school communities desiring to expand cultural sensitivity and to integrate best practices to support LGBT+ students, families and staff.

    The text is divided into three parts. In Section I, Shane educates readers. She provides definitions of terms, explains the importance of appropriate and sensitive language, and identifies how to speak respectfully with and about LGBT+ people. Shane provides a clear, succinct overview of privilege and intersectionality in a non-judgmental manner that encourages readers to desire to learn more.

    Shane provides person-in-environment case scenarios in Section II. These cases reflect real situations that arise in school districts that often leave unprepared educators flustered. Shane brings a unique approach in asking readers to consider the cases from three perspectives: their own, their decision-makers’ and district leadership’s, and through the eyes of the written policies and handbooks found in school districts. She then provides a “Guidance” section for each scenario with considerations for best LGBT+ positive practices.

    Finally, Section III seeks to implement knowledge into action. It provides suggestions and recommendations for educators to identify their strengths and to develop a plan to address areas where their community is still growing. Shane even includes sample emails to send to a principal or district administrator to invite conversation for change. She provides an extensive Appendix with numerous resources for educators, including readings for students at all grade levels. These resources and strategies provide foundations for advocacy.

    Shane’s text offers a useful tool to school communities. School social workers, their student interns, and social work educators preparing the next generation of social workers will find practical information for serving the needs of LGBT+ students, families, and educational systems.

    Informed by her own graduate studies in education and social work, Shane’s text offers a starting point for social workers to intervene in educational settings. Social workers can use this text as a springboard for training teachers, administrators, and school board members. The text could be used in formal presentations or book clubs that work through the case scenarios and create plans for change. The cases provide ample opportunity for reflection on micro-level interventions through specific examples; most school social workers will recognize themselves and their school districts in these challenges. Even more significantly, Shane provides opportunity to consider advocacy and reflection on mezzo-macro interventions that can change school climate.

    Ultimately, Kryss Shane’s text, The Educator’s Guide to LGBT+ Inclusion: A Practical Resource for K-12 Teachers, Administrators, and School Support Staff, offers social workers an opportunity to support school communities through a reflective process of discernment and action for creating more welcoming school communities for their LGBT+ members. The text should be on every teacher’s and school administrator’s bookshelf, and required reading in university education and social work programs. I see some wonderful birthday and holiday gifts for my teacher-friends in the coming year!

Reviewed by Claire L. Dente, PhD, MSW, LCSW (she/her/hers), Professor of Social Work, West Chester University of Pennsylvania; Editor, Social Work Practice with LGBTQIA Populations: An Interactional Perspective.