Supporting the well-being of LGBT students in schools
According to Stonewall’s research, homophobic bullying affects all students, not just those who later identify as lesbian, gay, bi or trans but also girls who are good at sports or boys who perform well at school (see The Teacher’s Report, 2014). This can have an impact on their attendance, achievement, and well-being. Therefore it’s important to work with teachers and schools until all students have a safe environment to learn in and are accepted without exception.
Stonewall’s approach is to train teachers with the skills, tools and knowledge to tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying and language. After having a 1-day training, the aim is that the teachers can empower their colleagues with the same knowledge and start creating a whole school approach. This method is potentially more effective than targeting students directly, as student cohorts change every year, whilst empowering teachers encourages them to create a safe environment for all their pupils to learn in.
After the training, teachers revise their anti-bullying policies, conduct student surveys and check school’s monitoring procedures, with the support of Stonewall. Their schools will become Stonewall School Champions for one year and exchange best practices within the network formed by all the schools in the programme.
It is believed, that once a school has a thorough and widespread approach to tackling homophobic, biphobic and transphobic language, they can truly start to celebrate diversity. The approach is intended to be age-appropriate, celebrating differences in primary schools through children’s stories, challenging gender stereotypes and encouraging pupils to be aware of the language they use. In secondary schools, teachers work with their students, enabling them to run anti-bullying campaigns, set up equality groups and organise student surveys.
Further information: Stonewall’s programme for secondary schools and for primary schools.
Sidonie Bertrand-Shelton, Programmes manager at Stonewall.