Stonewall report investigates homophobic bullying in Britain’s schools
Stonewall have announced a major report investigating the scale of homophobic bullying in Britain’s schools, to be released at the ‘Education for All’ conference on 5th July.
‘The School Report’ is based on results taken from 6,400 lesbian, gay and bisexual young people in the UK, and the charity hope to use these results to prevent and target the issue of homophobic discrimination in the classroom.
Education professionals who attend July’s conference will also be among the first to hear the results of the 2012 Education Equality Index, which measures how effectively local authorities are targeting homophobia.
Stonewall Chief Executive Ben Summerskill said: “Too many young people remain terrified of school because they face homophobic abuse every day.
“Thankfully thousands of schools and individual teachers are working closely with Stonewall to help stamp out homophobic bullying.”
In an attempt to target the problem, the conference will offer breakout sessions to encourage teachers to address homophobia, as well teaching the importance of LGBT role models.
Teacher Elly Barnes, last year’s number one in the Independent on Sunday’s Pink List of influential LGBT people, spoke about the importance of pastoral care for LGBT teens.
“Education becomes so target driven,” she said. “But it’s important that we care about the well-being of the pupils as well as what they are learning.
“In our experience at Schools Out, we know that teachers are desperate for LGBT training and resources to enable them to implement an inclusive curriculum. The more organisations who can provide this is all the better for young people.”
BBC Director-General Mark Thompson and Shadow Education Secretary Stephen Twigg will be among the speakers getting behind the event, which takes place at the British Library.
