Jane Rossouw (597-610)

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Curricular Scholasticide: LGBTQ+ Omissions and Representation in South African Sexuality Education

Jane Rossouw

Department of Psychology of Education, University of South Africa, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5261-3755

Abstract

This study introduces the concept of ‘curricular scholasticide’- the deliberate destruction of educational opportunities through systematic knowledge exclusions that deny LGBTQ+ students access to essential content. Extending beyond physical infrastructure destruction, curricular scholasticide operates through strategic omissions and misrepresentations that become amplified during crisis periods when comprehensive information becomes essential for student well-being. Using Critical Discourse Analysis of South African Life Orientation Comprehensive Sexuality Education Scripted Lesson Plans for grades 8-12, this research examines how systematic representations and exclusions of LGBTQ+ content constitute educational harm that intensifies during social disruptions. The analysis reveals three mechanisms through which curriculum materials actively produce ignorance about sexual and gender diversity: gender binary enforcement that positions heterosexuality as universal, strategic incompleteness that provides tokenistic acknowledgment without substantive engagement, and responsibility displacement that individualizes structural discrimination. Drawing on null curriculum theory and epistemic ignorance scholarship, the findings demonstrate how these exclusions operate beyond passive omission to constitute deliberate knowledge destruction. The research reveals how seemingly neutral educational materials participate in maintaining heteronormative power structures while claiming inclusivity, creating separate and unequal treatment within the same curriculum. This contributes to understanding how educational systems can either exacerbate or reduce inequalities during crisis periods, with implications for developing crisis-responsive inclusive education.

Keywords: Curricular scholasticide; LGBTQ+ sexuality education; epistemic ignorance; null curriculum; crisis-responsive education

How to cite this article: Rossouw, J. (2025). Curricular Scholasticide: LGBTQ+ Omissions and Representation in South African Sexuality Education. African Perspectives of Research in Teaching and Learning, 9(5), 597-610.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.70875/v9i5article9