Challenging Homophobia in Our Schools Awareness

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Oldham Division National Union of Teachers

• Welcome
• Challenging Homophobia in Our Schools  Awareness
  Training Event
• Thursday 5th March 2009
• Oldham Division National Union of Teachers,
  Oldham MBC, Oldham Schools Colleges working in
  partnership challenging homophobia in our schools

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Challenging Homophobia in Our Schools  Awareness
Training Event

• Project Aim- to afford all young people in
  Oldham, regardless of their sexuality
• the right to have potential and/or real human
  sexual diversity respected in an inclusive and
  celebratory educational environment
• Encourage personal integrity in relationships
• the right to grow and blossom to encourage
  personal integrity
• the chance to succeed in an environment free from
  homophobia and
• to be empowered to discuss sexuality openly.

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Challenging Homophobia in Our Schools  Awareness
Training Event

• Why? (the high ground). Morally the right thing
  to do!
• promoting human understanding and acceptance of
  the wonder of human diversity.
• Provides a more tolerance and civil society in
  which to live and prosper.
• Contribute to less suicides, attempted suicides,
  homelessness, mental illness, murders, human
  misery ...and fewer column inches for the more
  scurrilous newspapers.

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Challenging Homophobia in Our Schools  Awareness
Training Event

• Why? (the pragmatic).
• Improving exam results
• Improving school attendance
• Promoting numbers applying for further and higher
  educational.
• To prevent contravention of statute law.
• Creating a more inclusive educational
  environment.

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Challenging Homophobia in Our Schools
 Awareness Training Event Aims

• How?
• To provide clear guidance on sexuality and
  homophobia to schools, teachers and professionals
  working with children and young people
• To raise awareness of the impact of homophobia on
  young peoples achievement.
• To identify and challenge the conduits by the
  bigotry and ignorance that is homophobia is
  transmitted to our young people and staff.

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Adolescent Relationships
Teenage abortions hit record as under 16
pregnancy rate soars The number of girls having
abortions has hit record levels as figures show
how teenage pregnancies have risen for the first
time in five years.   Daily Telegraph 27 Feb 2009
Sexually transmitted diseases in young people
double in 10 years Sexually transmitted
infections among children and teenagers have
doubled in the past 10 years, according to a
report published yesterday. More than 1.3 million
people under 20 were diagnosed with an STI Office
for National Statistics (ONS) said. The figures
showed young people were among the most at risk
of contracting a sexual disease. Women under 20
now have the highest rates of Chlamydia, which
can cause infertility, among all age groups.
Teenage pregnancies - highest rates in
Europe INDEPENDENT Friday, 27 February
2009 ...the chronic high rate of teenage
pregnancies in Britain, compared with other
European countries....
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Adolescent Relationships
Stonewall - Young Voices Case study 1Michael is
16 years old and lives in Hertfordshire.  Michael
was not supported by his school when he came
out.  He suffers from insomnia as a result of the
bullying and has contemplated suicide.
Case study 3Tim, 21 years old and lives in
Leicestershire.  Tim was bullied for 5 years, as
a result now suffers from panic attacks and
anxiety.  The faith school that he attended were
not supportive and often told him that he was to
blame.
High School Homophobia Kills Gay Teen 15 yrs
old Jonathan Reynolds
Teen dies after homophobic attack Liverpool Echo
2nd August 2008
Stonewall - Young Voices Case study 2 Holly is
17 years old and lives in Hampshire.  Holly came
out in Year 8 and found that some friends were
supportive but others weren't.   As a consequence
of the bullying Holly truanted from school and
pretended to be ill to get away from it.
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Prevalence of Homophobia
Oldham NUT Prevalence of Homophobia Survey
What our colleagues reported
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Prevalence of Homophobia
Background to this survey this project was
initiated by the Committee of Oldham NUT in
response to reports by members being subject to
homophobic abuse and often met by an apparent
reluctance by the employer to address the issue.
The Committee was also mindful of the plight of
students as revelled in the work of Stonewall
that speaks of an epidemic of homophobia in our
schools. A pilot study was conducted at one
school and the results of which informed the
commissioning of this larger study to help
quantify the scale of the problem faced by
teachers and staff preparatory to considering
remedial action.
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Prevalence of Homophobia

• Data collection methodology
• Confidential
• involved eighty-five teachers working in five
  secondary schools in Oldham LEA completing a
  one-page questionnaire in two sections
  Prevalence of homophobia and secondly
  Responses to homophobia.
• Participation by approximately 45 of the NUT
  members at those schools.
• the model has been adopted by the regional NUT
  and will be rolled-out in the next eighteen
  months.

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Prevalence of Homophobia

• Make-up of the Survey Prevalence of homophobia
  and secondly Responses to homophobia .
• Prevalence of homophobia section invited
  teachers to report their professional assessment
  of homophobia. Teachers were asked to grade any
  observed homophobia on a wide sliding scale from
  never (i.e. no incidence) to common (i.e.
  daily incidence). Assessment was invited on three
  aspects by which prevalence of homophobia might
  be gauged
• general climate,
• inter-pupil homophobia and finally
• Homophobic bullying of staff by pupils.
• Responses to homophobia section invited teachers
  to report on how they professionally assessed the
  nature of the challenge afforded by the school to
  societal homophobic discrimination/bullying.
  Assessment was measured by a simple yes/no
  response to five statements that concentrated
  on-
• Teachers attitude towards the issue of homophobia
• the perceived response to the schools
  managements response to the challenge of
  homophobia
• Training needs

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Prevalence of Homophobia
Part I Quantifying homophobia
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Prevalence of Homophobia
Part I Quantifying homophobia
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Prevalence of Homophobia
Part I Quantifying homophobia
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Prevalence of Homophobia
Part 2 professional response to homophobia and
training needs
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Prevalence of Homophobia
Part 2 professional response to homophobia and
training needs
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Consequences of the student their community

• Homophobic school environments are contributing
  to-
• Physical Abuse
• Neglect and Failure to Thrive
• Sexual Abuse
• Emotional Abuse including bullying
• An impoverished learning environment for all.

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Homophobic school environments are contributing
to-

• Source- Ian Warwick, Elaine Chase and Peter
  Angleton with Sue Sanders Thomas Coram Research
  Unit
• Institute of Education, University of London
• General Bullying (whole school pop.) 10-20,
  although can be up to 60
• Bullying homophobic
• Young lesbians and female bisexuals bullied more
  often (30 35) than heterosexual girls and
  young women (20)
• Young gay men bullied more often (51) than young
  heterosexual and the bullying is more likely to
  be homophobia-related
• Likely to be underreporting

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Homophobic school environments

• Homophobic bullying contributes, among other
  things, to
• Lack of sleep, loss of appetite, feelings of
  isolation, being upset and angry,
• elevated rates of actual and attempted suicide
  self-harm,
• a. Contemplated self-harm as a result of school
  bullying
• Reported by 53 of adult lesbians and gay men
  (retrospective studies)
• b. Attempted self-harm - 40 on at least one
  occasion.
• Lesbian and gay young people 2-3 times more
  likely to attempt suicide (U.S. study)
• May account for 30 of all youth suicides (while
  being about 2-9 of the population)
• absenteeism truancy and
• limited achievement at school.
• LGBT people are more likely to leave school at 16
  (Stonewall Report)
• A significant percentage of young mothers
  identify as Lesbian or Bisexual (Young Lesbian
  Mothers Research, Wigan)
• Source- Ian Warwick, Elaine Chase and Peter
  Angleton with Sue Sanders Thomas Coram Research
  Unit
• Institute of Education, University of London

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Homophobic school environments

• Bullying and harassment of teachers by
  colleagues and pupils
• Contributes to teachers stress,
• lack of confidence,
• poor work achievement,
• resignations and being overlooked for promotion
• Source- Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of
  Education, University of London
• Oldham NUT Prevalence of Homophobia Survey
• 50 of teachers reported being the subject of
  homophobic abuse

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Challenging Homophobia in our Schools
Where now? Very positive response from Oldham
MBC Recognition that only by a highly
coordinated, multi-agency, highly motivated, well
resourced and well informed programme of action
can this bigotry be effectively challenged.
Delighted that young people through their LGBT
organisations and representative are actively
engaged in the response to these findings
Pre-primary advice already sent out by the NUT
and Oldham MBC This Training event Challenging
Homophobia in our Schools Conference Friday 8th
May 2009
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We are all in it together
Action Required- Homophobic insults should be
viewed as seriously as racism. We must uphold
every childs basic right to learn in a safe and
secure environment, free from bullying. Ed. We
cant do this alone. The Question The real
question is now not about the epidemic
proportions of homophobic abuse in our schools.
The most pressing question for our community is
simply, are we up to the challenge of making our
schools safe and secure environments free from
bullying?
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Practical Challenge I

• Practical Challenge I
• Name that tune!
• The language of bigotry
• Identifying the ignorance and obsession behind
  the bigotry .
• Task I- Group sort activity
• Customising
• finding patterns and themes of the bigotry 910
  minutes)
• Group report back

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Challenging Homophobia in our Schools
Practical Challenge I - Identifying the ignorance
and obsession behind the bigotry
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Challenging Homophobia in our Schools
Practical Challenge I - Identifying the ignorance
and obsession behind the bigotry
Group report back General themes of homophobia
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Practical Challenge II

• Practical Challenge II needs .
• Every Child matters Addressing endemic
  homophobia - needs and shopping list.
• Task II- Empathetic activity (Pairs activity)
• What are the barriers?
• Knowing the problem
• What is required
• rating priories.
• Identifying needs.

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Practical Challenge II
Practical Challenge II - Identifying the
consequences of bigotry .  A. Homophobia
   
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Practical Challenge II
Practical Challenge II - Identifying the
consequences and responses to homophobic bigotry
. The role of formal education is increasingly
detailed in statute law (Angela) Shopping list
- What are the barriers? (identifying needs) -
Paired work 10 minutes Report back.