Paraparaumu College teacher Elliot Pilmore embraces queer liaison role

Paraparaumu College queer liaison Elliot Pilmore (left) with principal Craig Steed. Photo / David Haxton

In what could be a first for New Zealand, a queer liaison role has been formally adopted by Paraparaumu College.

Elliot Pilmore has been a science teacher at the college for four years and during that time has informally been on-hand to support students who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

But last year, Pilmore and fellow teacher Anita Titter put forward a proposal for a queer liaison role.

“We did a lot of research and found out there were no other examples of this being a paid position in Aotearoa and anywhere else,” Pilmore said.

“We thought it was a really good time to push that forward and try and get a recognised position that had the school’s backing.

“Working in the queer space, you do get some backlash from parents and the community, and it’s always a bit tricky to navigate.

“So we thought having backing from the school, and recognition, it would be a positive move for whoever is in the role, be that me or someone in the future.”

Principal Craig Steed was keen, which led to the proposal going through various channels before it was adopted this year, with Pilmore taking up the role, as part of his employment, in recent days.

“Elliot has been doing this work anyway but, without the recognition or role title.

Paraparaumu College science teacher Elliot Pilmore is the college's queer liaison. Photo / David Haxton

“A driver for us is to make sure that our school is as inclusive a space as possible, and inclusion for our LGBTQIA+ youth is really important.”

Students are free to chat with Pilmore, a Year 12 dean and chair of the college’s Post Primary Teachers’ Association, when out and about in the college, including in the dean’s office, which has an open-door policy or a side room if they want privacy.

Pilmore said he could point students in the direction of “safe and affirming” resources or support networks and liaise with the college’s counselling team to ensure students had the help they needed to flourish.

“There’s a lot of different resources and some of them masquerade as being helpful while being very non-helpful.

“I want to be able to direct students towards things that are going to be good for them rather than harmful.”

He was also available to be a third party when students needed to talk to their parents about stuff.

“I can help parents understand things or find resources that will be helpful to them to look after their kids in the best way.”

He was also there for other teachers.

“All of our teachers want to do the best they can and it’s important to have someone that they can ask questions to if they’re unsure about something.”

Pilmore, who has given input into the college’s property design in terms of inclusive spaces and signage, hoped to connect with the Rainbow Network to create professional development tools for schools around queer students and “how to help with common problems that people have”.