Nichols, Henry James (PhD)
Henry Nichols completed both the BEdHons and MEd degrees in Psychology of Education. Based on the research for his master’s studies, he published an article on the experiences of high school learners on the teaching of LGBT content. A second article on school involvement experiences of parents who embraced the same-sex sexuality of their children was published in 2019. Henry served as teacher and head of the English department for over a decade. He is currently employed by the University of the Free State in the Faculty of Education as a Psychology of Education and Life Orientation lecturer. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) learners in schools experience violence and discrimination because of their non-normative sexual orientations and gender expressions. These experiences impact their quality of learning and well- being. Since parent involvement has been shown to affect academic outcomes positively, it becomes important to understand the potential contributions of how home-school relationships could facilitate a safe, enabling and inclusive learning environment for LGBT learners. Using qualitative methods, this study explored the school involvement experiences of parents who embraced the same-sex sexuality of their children. The findings revealed that schools remain sites that pr ivi lege heteronormativity and perpetuate heterosexism. Parental involvement was restricted to general discussions of bullying and violence. Issues related to LGBT and gender non-conforming identities were silenced. Hence, the candidate designed a Parental Involvement Model that guides school structures to respond to the needs of learners with diverse gender and sexuality identities.
Supervisor: Prof A Brown Co-supervisor: Prof BM Diale
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