Queer Theory in Education Research

This chapter discusses queer theory definitions and methods. It explores some key queer research study examples in education, including policy research, curriculum and textbook analysis, studies of classroom talk, student surveys and other study types. It provides some key questions that can be used in basic queer reading strategies and linguistics for policy, curriculum and classroom talk analysis; Butler's most well-known concept of performativity; and the potential usefulness of less widely applied concepts including overplay, transference and erasure, as well as other approaches. The chapter finally considers the value of key critiques of queer theory and the way the theory questions the privileging of certain models of time and space, including the Anthropocene age itself.