Education report from Stonewall

Guidance Notes to LGBT Coalition - March 2004 | Stonewall

Bullying

A survey of 300 secondary schools found 82% of teachers are aware of verbal incidents, and 26% aware of physical incidents of homophobic bullying. Only 6% of schools had anti-bullying policies specifically designed to combat homophobic bullying.

Many people think schools could not talk about sexuality or deal with homophobic bullying because of Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988. But even before it was repealed, Section 28 did not apply to schools and did not prevent schools from addressing the issues of sexuality or homophobic bullying. In fact schools have a legal obligation to prevent all forms of bullying, including homophobic bullying, and to provide a safe learning environment for all pupils and staff.

"Schools should make sure that homophobic attitudes do not go unchallenged" - OFSTED

Homophobia and homophobic bullying are major problems for pupils, parents, staff and all those involved with young people and their education, irrespective of whether they are straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Homophobic bullying is not only experienced by pupils or professionals who are lesbian, gay or bisexual. It can also affect any child, young person or staff member who does not conform to ways of behaving that are traditionally associated with being 'masculine' or 'feminine'. Abuse can be verbal, physical or psychological.

Bullying can harm the physical and emotional well-being of both those who are bullied and those who bully.

Research shows that homophobic bullying:

• increases truancy rates
• increases self-harm and suicide by young people
• lowers educational attainment
• damages self-esteem

Combating homophobic bullying can positively affect the academic attainment and emotional and physical wellbeing of both groups, and anti-bullying policies, equal opportunity policies, coverage of the issue of homosexuality in the curriculum, behaviour management, pastoral and other support are essential elements for strategies that do this.

In this section we provide information on where to get help and information if you are a pupil, professional, parent or other individual/organisation who is experiencing or has experienced homophobic bullying. It also provides information about where to get more information about how to prevent and/or challenge homophobic bullying.

Extract from DfES report: Bullying: Don't Suffer in Silence

Why schools should be concerned about bullying

• Head teachers must by law have a policy to prevent all forms of bullying among pupils. Challenging bullying effectively will improve the safety and happiness of pupils, show that the school cares and make clear to bullies that the behaviour is unacceptable.

• Head teachers will need to satisfy themselves that their policies comply with the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000. The latter requires schools to draw up a race equality policy and ensure that policies do not discriminate against racial groups.

Establishing a whole-school policy in four stages

• The policy needs to set out strategies to be followed, backed up by systems to ensure effective implementation, monitoring and review. There are four main stages to establishing a policy.

20. Sexual bullying impacts on both genders. Boys are also victims - of girls and other boys. A case of proven sexual assault is likely to lead to the exclusion of the perpetrator. In general, sexual bullying is characterised by:

    • abusive name calling
    • looks and comments about appearance, attractiveness, emerging puberty
    • inappropriate and uninvited touching
    • sexual innuendoes and propositions
    • pornographic material, graffiti with sexual content
    • in its most extreme form, sexual assault or rape

21. Useful strategies to help deal with it include:

    • refer to it explicitly in anti-bullying policies
    • use surveys to find out the extent and nature of the problem
    • record incidents in a separate incident book
    • develop understanding of gender relations and suitable strategies through staff
    • training
    • explore sexism, and sexual bullying, through the curriculum
    • recognise and challenge sexual content within verbal abuse
    • use single-sex groupings to explore sensitive issues
    • ensure that the school site is well supervised, paying attention to areas where pupils may be vulnerable - perhaps using CCTV

22. Sexual bullying can also be related to sexual orientation. Pupils do not necessarily have to be lesbian, gay or bi-sexual to experience such bullying. Just being different can be enough. A survey of 300 secondary schools in England and Wales found 82% of teachers aware of verbal incidents, and 26% aware of physical incidents. Almost all schools had anti-bullying policies, but only 6% referred to this type. Factors hindering schools in challenging homophobic bullying include staff inexperience and parental disapproval.

23. Strategies for reducing such bullying include:

    • including it in the school's anti-bullying policy - so pupils know discrimination is wrong and the school will act
    • covering it in INSET days on bullying in general
    • guaranteeing confidentiality and appropriate advice to lesbian and gay pupils
    • challenging homophobic language
    • exploring issues of diversity and difference - discussing what schools and society can do to end discrimination
    • exploring pupils' understanding of their use of homophobic language - they may not understand the impact

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