Families

  • Amy Shema
Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Queer Studies and Education book series (QSTED)

Abstract

According to the US Census (2010), the number of school-aged children living in a two-parent heterosexual household continues to decline, yet the nuclear family remains the model for what constitutes a “traditional” or “natural” family. This model has been reproduced often enough that it is considered to be “natural” and thus the norm against which other family configurations are compared. Schools, particularly at the primary level, focus heavily on the concept of family, who counts as family, and a child’s position within family structures. However, many children with parents who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), and/or are in same-sex relationships, do not fit the normalized model of family. Current research regarding LGBT-headed families establishes that there is a disconnect between the family constellations these students experience in their everyday lives, and those that teachers include in the formal curriculum at schools. As a result, certain family models become marginalized or rendered invisible. This chapter serves as a place to examine traditional notions of family, review origins of the concept of the nuclear family and the problems/challenges it presents, and make the case for broadening the definition of family.

Keywords

Family Structure Nuclear Family Elementary Teacher Heterosexual Family Married Couple Household 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Amy Shema
    • 1
  1. 1.University of RochesterRochesterUSA

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