British Schools Must Record All Cases Of Homophobic Bullying

The Schools Minister, Vernon Coaker, has announced today that schools within the UK will be required to record any racist, sexist of homophobic bullying that occurs on school grounds.

Saying that the changes would be implemented from the beginning of the new school year in September, Coaker say that “Bullying can make children’s lives a misery. It can have a lasting impact on young people’s future happiness, self-confidence and development and parents are right to be concerned about how it might be affecting their children.

“I am absolutely clear that bullying of any kind should not be tolerated in or outside of our schools.

“That’s why the government is today announcing new measures to make sure that schools are doing all they can to tackle this issue head on.”

Believing having the information on file will make it easier for teachers to deal with the issue, especially when speaking to parents about it, the government will also use the information to spot trends which then they can then work on dealing with.

The date will also allow schools to pass on information about serious cases to local councils, alongside any bullying that is suffered by teachers or other staff members.

Stonewall, the gay rights charity, has welcomed the move, which enters a 12-week consultation period today, with a spokesman telling the Pink News that “Stonewall welcomes the proposed duty for schools to record and report all incidents of homophobic bullying. When 65 per cent of young lesbian and gay people experience homophobic bullying but those same young people think only 50 per cent of teachers respond to it, recording incidents is the only way forward.”

However whilst positive about the reporting, Stonewall did highlight that there was a still a need to help train schools to deal with the problem, something which they hoped to advice with through their Education Champions programme.

Schools Out also reinforced Stonewall’s worry about what would happen after the incidents were recorded, and that there needed to be a clear plan of action put in place.