Summary:
Τhe present dissertation aims to investigate Secondary school teachers' attitudes towards male and female homosexuality. More specifically, two main research questions have been set: a) to what extent Greek secondary school educators present homophobic attitudes and b) whether male or female Secondary school teachers hold homophobic behaviors at greater extent. In the beginning of the present assignment, a main conceptualization of homophobia takes place, along with the homosexual experience seen from an anthropological, psychological and sociological perspective. Subsequently, teacher attitudes on issues regarding homosexual expressions of sexuality are presented, based on research findings, along with the role school ultimately plays on the realization and acceptance of a “different'” sexual reality relevant to both educators and pupils’ lives. Afterwards, the research part of the present work is described, for the purpose of which the Herek scale (ATLG scale) was translated in Greek and distributed to the participants. The sample of the research comprise138 secondary school educators, 50 men and 68 women, most of whom are 22 to 32 years old at 68%. The most important findings, as derived from the calculation of the average of the teacher responses to the sub-scale 1 and 2 of the questionnaire, from the comparison of the average of teachers’ responses between the independent samples (men-women) and the calculation of the endosyphs between the sentences-questions of the questionary, indicate that educators do not present homophobic attitudes, however some differences between women and men pointed out, with women holding more positive stances towards the most aspects of homosexuality. Finally, proposals for future research regarding the investigation of the attitudes different social groups hold towards homosexuality are offered.
Keywords:
homophobia, homosexuality, teacher attitudes, school environment
