Stoke Newington School, a secondary school in north London, has said that it has nearly managed to completely eradicate homophobic bullying from the school by introducing gay history lessons.

Using these lessons to teach pupils about well-known gay historical figures such as wartime code-breaker Alan Turing, gay authors Oscar Wilde and James Baldwin and artist Andy Warhol, music teacher Elly Barnes said she developed the lessons with colleagues five years ago after becoming aware of how pupils were frequently using “gay” as a derogatory term.

Following the success within the Stoke Newington School the plan now is to extend the scheme by teaching hundreds of teachers how to “educate and celebrate” being gay with Ms Barnes aiming to “eradicate homophobia from all schools” by giving staff the confidence and resources required to tackle the prejudice that all to often exists.

Talking about the changes the lessons had made, Barnes said:

“Many schools haven’t even begun to deal with homophobia,”

“Some still think being gay is illegal in parts of the country. By looking at famous LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] people in history, we’ve changed opinions and we have had a number of pupils come out.

“We have also changed the language used in the school. I used to hear the word gay used all the time as a derogatory term. Now we hardly hear it.”

A report by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission earlier this month found two-thirds of lesbian, gay and transgender students had suffered homophobic bullying with 17 per cent had received death threats. It also found that nearly half of secondary school teachers in England believe homophobic bullying is commonplace with only one in six believing that the school promoted the rights of gay pupils.

Via This Is London

One of the biggest problems we hear about is the lack of support that young lesbian, gay and bisexual people feel they have, so we’re very happy to announce the release of Stonewall’s latest guide aimed at educating youth and education staff on how to support lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) young people.

Put together to help those who work with LGB youth, or want to help enable them to grow and learn in a safe and supportive environment, this second guide from a series focusing on education looks at the different specific aspects of tackling homophobic bullying, offers practical recommendations about how to show LGB young people that they can be themselves, as well as including real life experiences of gay young people and case studies from schools and youth projects.

Speaking about the guides, Chris Gibbons, Stonewall Senior Education Officer, said:

“Most young people tell Stonewall that they realise they’re lesbian, gay or bisexual when they’re 12 or 13. But many don’t tell anyone until they’re 16 or older. The fear of a negative reaction can be very damaging to a young person. This guide gives practical advice for teachers and all youth professionals such as avoiding assumptions, working with parents and carers and how to respond when a young person comes out”

Recent changes have meant that there is a now statutory obligation to support all young people including those identifying as gay,l esbian and bisexual. Alongside this guide, Stonewall have also produced a number of other resources to do this including the Education for All programme, the Stonewall’s anti-homophobia feature film FIT which was recently sent to every school in Britain and the “Some people are gay. Get over it!”  zero-tolerance message campaign.

This latest Stonewall guide can be downloaded from the education resources section of the Stonewall site.

The government has been forced to backtrack on a plan to make sex education compulsory for students over the age of 15 in order to make sure that the legislation was able to become law before May 6th. Dropping several parts of the legislation following stiff opposition from the Tories the education secretary Ed Balls is now likely to face criticism from gay rights campaigners and groups who had welcomed the changes which would have meant all students would have been taught about homophobic bullying and gay relationships as part of their sex education lessons.

First facing the wrath of the Accord Coalition in February for diluting the legislation to allow faith schools to teach homosexuality in a way that fitted with their beliefs, this new climbdown is likely to be met with further criticism and see the future government lobbied to address the issue of homophobic bullying that many do not believe is adequately covered in this new reduced legislation.

Alongside the watering down of teaching homosexuality other changes that failed to make it through included making parents sign behaviour contracts with schools and a guarantee of one on one tuition in maths and English for those following behind. The new legislation would have also meant that all teenagers from the age of 15 would have been taught about sexual activity, contraception, abortion and adoption, as well as not allowing parents to exclude their child from the lessons for a year.

Forced to be diluted in this way due to the Conservatives and external groups believing that the changes would have a negative impact that not only sidelines parents, but also would act to construct teenage pregnancy as acceptable, a Conservative spokesman said

“The government torpedoed its own proposals. We wanted progress on sex education, but the government preferred petulance. We agreed an all-party way forward to guarantee high quality sex education which respected the rights of parents and faith groups.”

Vocal about his unhappiness with the Conservatives opposition to the bill from the off Ed Balls said:

“There is now widespread agreement that statutory PSHE (personal, social, health, and economic education) is essential to prepare young people for adult life, and our reforms would ensure that by reducing the age of parental opt-out to 15, all children receive at least one year of compulsory sex and relationship education.

“This is a very significant setback, which will deny many young people proper and balanced sex and relationship education.”

Responding to the watered down legislation, Lisa Power of the Terrance Higgins Trust called the move “disgraceful” and that:

“We will see the impact on young people who haven’t had decent sex and relationships education. The girl who gets pregnant because the only education she got was in the playground, the people who use the word ‘gay’ as an insult,”

“This isn’t just about sex – it’s about relationships, it’s about bullying, it’s about a whole raft of things.”

Derek Munn,  the Stonewall’s public affairs director has said that Stonewall will act to lobby the next government to push for the changes to be implemented.

Photo by LizMarie.

A group of students in Wembley have forced their school to recognise the issue of homophobia by making them adapt their bullying policy to cover homophobia specifically.

Talking about the achievement, Grace Organ, who is a student at Queen’s Park Community School, told the Wembley and Kingsbury Times:

“We’ve had friends who were victims of sustained homophobic abuse.

Lots of teachers felt they couldn’t say anything and were afraid to say something.

“We wanted to make the school policy clear, because our school’s ethos of inclusiveness is so strong and it seemed incongruous with that.”

The push for the change in policy first began in September 2008 following a visit from a group called Envision who urged pupils in the school to began a campaign on an issue of their choice. Beginning with an aim of merely pushing for a change in the school’s bullying policy, the campaign quickly grow using not only Facebook but also assemblies and surveys to get pupils involved.

Talking about the issue of homophobic bullying, Grace said the main problem was that it “puts you on the defensive” and added:

“It never gets solved and there is a culture of saying that something is ‘gay’ and people don’t see a correlation between that and bullying. It’s common practice and everyone seems to say it.”

The girls say they think education on the issue is the best way to tackle the problem, something that the Queen’s Park ward Lib Dem Councillor Will Motley agrees with saying:

“This is the ‘Cinderella’ issue of the bullying spectrum. People are often afraid that if they challenge it they will be thought to be gay themselves or that the abuse will turn in their direction.”

And added that teachers had to be central to this stating:

“Teachers are very busy with a complex profession, so a sensitive and difficult issue like this can easily be filed under ‘To be dealt with another day.’”

Homophobic bullying is a big issue in schools and colleges around the country, and whilst many towns and cities take a far from proactive role in challenging that Reading, in Berkshire, is one bucking the trend.

And one man in particular is leading that change – Councillor Tim Harris. A Conservative MP for the city, Harris will tomorrow raise concerns about the amount of homophobic bullying which is occurring in educational establishments in Reading, and ask that Reading authority agrees to a resolution that will deplore all forms of bullying. He will also request that the authority works with the education champions campaign, currently being run by gay rights charity Stonewall, to better deal with issues around that of homophobia.

Finally in an attempt to monitor what impact it has, Harris will call for homophobic bullying to be included in anti-bullying policies by September 2010, and a report be produced and give to the education and children’s services scrutiny panel.

Councillor Tim Harris’ focus on dealing with homophobic bullying ties in with the views of Conservative leader, David Cameron, who admitted in a live webcast that homophobic bullying was an issue, but one that can and would be dealt with by a Conservative government (you can see his full response to a question by Stonewall on the subject at the 45 minute point).

Photo via John Steven Fernandez, story via Pink Paper.

Gareth Thomas, the Welsh rugby player who came out as gay at the end of last year has been announced as the patron of LGBT History Month.

Having represented Wales in over 100 international rugby matches, Thomas who now plays for the Cardiff Blues became the first British rugby player to come out as gay last year and has said he is fully committed to doing what he can to ensure the next generation does experience the homophobia that he did.

Talking about his new role Thomas said:

The 2011 and 2012 LGBT History Months will be focusing on Sport in 2011 and 2012, with  Thomas keen to play an active part in raising the visibility of LGBT people in sport.

The co-chair of LGBT History Month Tony Fenwick said he was delighted that Thomas had become the new patron saying:

“Gareth Thomas is a legend in the world of rugby. For someone of his stature to come out will be of enormous benefit to young players.

“I deeply admire his honesty and his genuine commitment to kick homophobia into touch. We’re already talking about an exciting project!

“We’re honoured to have him on board as a patron. He’s already showing himself to be a respected role model and we look forward to working with such a wonderful ambassador.”

[tweetmeme] Stonewall, the gay equality organisation will in February send every secondary school a copy of  it’s new DVD FIT, which is the first feature film made for schools with the aim of tackling homophobic bullying.

Powerful, intelligent and very entertaining, the storyline combines hip-hop, humour and cool street fashion with writing similar to that  Skins to create something Stonewall hope  is as engaging for pupils as it is informative.

Devised in an interactive format, the aim of this anti-homophobia film is to get pupils to think about the way they use the word ‘gay’ not just as a sexual orientation, but also to mean anything rubbish or inadequate. Alongside this it is also being seen as being able to offer the much needed support and resources that teachers say they are lacking, something which was highlighted in a recent YouGov study for Stonewall which found nine in ten secondary school teachers said pupils currently experience homophobic bullying in their schools, but they had had no specific training on how to deal with it. The report also found one in five teachers did not feel comfortable addressing gay issues in class, and one in six did not feel confident responding if a pupil were to ask questions regarding gay issues.

FIT was originally a play that Stonewall toured in 2008-09 that was seen by 20,000, with reactions from students focusing on how it had encouraged them to reassess their prejudices with Navdeep, a year 8 pupil at a south London school, said: ‘After watching FIT, we realised it was wrong to use the word gay as a cuss word. You shouldn’t outcast your friend if they’re gay.’

Chris Gibbons, Stonewall’s Senior Education Officer, said the ‘Overwhelming positive response to FIT as a touring play – from pupils and teachers alike – convinced us that a feature film would help every secondary school in Britain to challenge homophobic bullying. Teachers are still ill-equipped and unsure of how to deal with gay issues in their classrooms. Stonewall’s film for schools will help plug this gap.’

Written and directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair, the play definitely had the effect he wanted with him explaining ‘When on tour I would ask the kids how many people thought homosexuality was wrong. In every single school the vast majority, about 80%, would put their hands up. But kids would come up after the performance and say quite openly “I walked into this room homophobic and will leave it a changed person.”’

FIT was produced with the support of a consortium of funders and will be sent out to every secondary school by the end of February with the support of the teachers’ union NASUWT. For more info visit the Stonewall FIT website.

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.

Research by YouGov for Stonewall has shown 95% of secondary school staff, and three quarters of primary school staff, have heard children using phrases such as ‘you’re so gay’ or ‘that’s so gay’. The research also highlighted that eight in ten at secondary level, and two in five at primary level have heard homophobic remarks including ‘poof’, ‘dyke’ and ‘queer’.

Undoubtedly concerning, the element that Stonewall have however found most worrying is that nine in ten primary and secondary school teachers have never received any training on how to prevent and respond to homophobic bullying.

In recognition of this finding, the gay rights organisation have released a plain English guide aimed at secondary and primary school teachers, as well as youth professionals, that not only offers practical advice, but also as well as policy information, legislation and real life case studies of how other schools has dealt with the issue.

Using members of the Stonewall’s Education Champion Programme, a scheme set up to allow Local Authorities to work with Stonewall to tackle homophobic bullying in schools, as the source for these case studies Stonewall have acted to ensure that the guidance doesn’t just have similar objectives to the guide but follows them exactly, making the advice a lot easier to implement.

Speaking about these findings, Stonewall Chief Executive Ben Summerskill said ‘Every day in schools homophobic language undermines the confidence and self-esteem not just of young gay people but of any student deemed different. Challenging homophobic language doesn’t have to be time-consuming or difficult. Stonewall’s education guides are designed to restore confidence to teachers who, until now, have been under-equipped in creating an environment where all young people can learn free from discrimination and bullying.’

Photo by Jan Tik

]]> http://www.queeried.co.uk/stonewall-release-guide-to-help-teachers-curb-homophobic-language-and-abuse/feed/ 1 http://www.queeried.co.uk/lgbt-history-month-north-west-pre-launch-to-be-held-at-the-university-of-salford/ http://www.queeried.co.uk/lgbt-history-month-north-west-pre-launch-to-be-held-at-the-university-of-salford/#comments Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:41:54 +0000 Michelle Penny http://www.queeried.co.uk/?p=1025

The University of Salford is to host the first North West launch event to celebrate next year’s LGBT History Month, a concept which itself comes from School’s Out, a campaigning organisation of LGBT people involved in education, who have took their inspiration from the US who have been running one in schools since 1994.

Due to be held on the 3rd December 2009, the event will be hosted by the Vice Chancellor Professional Martin Hall, a keen supporter and champion of diversity, particularly concerning LGBT rights.

Speaking about the launch event, Professor Hall spoke of how the strong values of the university in supporting the GLBT community, alongside that of increasing homophobia in schools and colleges meant that “ it is fitting that our University is hosting this important event”.

A follow on from the launch event last month in London, which saw teachers and youth workers attend training sessions at the British Museum, as well as LGBT themed tours for local children, the University of Salford event will be a mix of 200 invited teachers, governors, local councillors, students who will be able to attend a session on modelling sample lessons for use during LGBT History Month as well as a presentation on LGBT History Month and a keynote address by Professor Rowbotham.

Photo by -Marlith-

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