Interrogating the promise of ‘inclusivity’ for LGBTQ+ lives in primary schools

Amid particularly turbulent times for LGBTQ+ people globally, it is unclear what concepts like ‘inclusivity’ can achieve in primary schools where institutionalized cis-heteronormative logics abound. Drawing on a study conducted with primary school staff (n = 1031) in Ireland in 2023, this paper explores the concept of inclusivity and how it functions when applied to LGBTQ+ lives in primary schools. This paper yields new insight into how primary school staff understand and approach LGBTQ+ inclusivity in a diversity of ways, some of which can have negative effects for LGBTQ+ people. Furthermore, this paper reveals significant incongruities between some primary school staff commitments to and understandings of inclusivity, and their everyday realities of practice and culture. Ultimately, this paper serves as an illustrative invitation to interrogate deeply the practices that are happening in the name of inclusivity in primary schools.