{"id":55810,"date":"2021-02-02T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T08:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=55810"},"modified":"2021-02-01T10:50:11","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T18:50:11","slug":"education-policies-in-england-overlook-bullying-of-lgbt-pupils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/education-policies-in-england-overlook-bullying-of-lgbt-pupils\/","title":{"rendered":"Education policies in England overlook bullying of LGBT+ pupils"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Nearly half of LGBT+ pupils<\/a>\u00a0are bullied in school because of their gender or sexual orientation. In fact, LGBT+ bullying is the\u00a0most common type of bullying<\/a>\u00a0in schools.\u00a0Just 27%<\/a>\u00a0of secondary school pupils believe it would be safe to come out as LGBT+ in their schools.<\/p>\n

Despite this, a 2020 report shows that\u00a0only one-fifth<\/a>\u00a0of secondary school students report learning about LGBT+ identities and homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.<\/p>\n

While schools are now required to teach LGBT+ content as part of Relationships and Sex Education, guidance from the Department of Education leaves it up to schools how and when they approach this content. There is no specific mention of the need to tackle bullying aimed at LGBT+ pupils as part of the curriculum.<\/p>\n

The content of LGBT+ education needs to be standardised across schools, and a more explicit stance needs to be taken against anti-LGBT+ bullying.<\/p>\n

Taking care<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Protecting the wellbeing of young people is hugely important, and teenagers from sexual minorities are\u00a0more likely than their peers to suffer<\/a>\u00a0from mental health problems. The experience of discrimination at a young age can have\u00a0long-term implications<\/a>\u00a0for people\u2019s mental health. In the short term, being bullied in school affects pupils\u2019 attendance and\u00a0educational performance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, funding for LGBT+ anti-bullying projects in English schools, provided by the Government Equalities Office,\u00a0was withdrawn<\/a>\u00a0in March 2020. Since September 2020, Relationships Education is a compulsory subject in primary schools, while Relationships and Sex Education is compulsory in secondary schools. Schools are required to teach \u201cLGBT content\u201d as part of this\u00a0new curriculum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The explicit reference to LGBT+ content is laudable, given that the previous curriculum does not mention this at all. But the curriculum guidance leaves it up to schools to determine how and when they teach LGBT+ content. The only specification is that it must be taught at a \u201ctimely point\u201d. The guidance continues to make allowances for religious schools to teach in accordance with their faith perspectives.<\/p>\n

In principle, then, a school could get away with teaching very little about LGBT+ inclusivity, on the basis that it was not timely nor appropriate to do so with their pupils. For example, the Catholic Education Service\u2019s\u00a0Model Curriculum for Secondary Schools<\/a>, which has been\u00a0cited as an example of good practice<\/a>\u00a0by Nick Gibb, the minister of state for School Standards, merely discusses the need to teach about diversity in sexual attraction and developing sexuality, but makes no mention of LGBT+ content.<\/p>\n

We cannot assume that all schools will offer comprehensive teaching on LGBT+ identities, especially when the guidance is vague. A further issue is that some teachers still feel they\u00a0need more support<\/a>\u00a0to teach LGBT+ inclusive relationships and sex education.<\/p>\n

A missing focus<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Also, while the new curriculum guidance makes some reference to anti-bullying education, the emphasis falls mainly on cyberbullying, rather than LGBT+ bullying. Schools are required to identify any homophobic incidents and to deal with them appropriately. But beyond this, there is no specific mention of the need to tackle homophobic, biphobic or transphobic bullying as part of the curriculum.<\/p>\n

The Government Equalities Office has claimed that it is \u201cmisleading<\/a>\u201d to state that the government has de-prioritised anti-LGBT+ bullying, because the Department for Education has\u00a0awarded \u00a3750,000<\/a>\u00a0to three charitable organisations for anti-bullying projects. The\u00a0three organisations<\/a>\u00a0are the Diana Award, the Anne Frank Trust and the Anti-Bullying Alliance, none of which are LGBT-specific.<\/p>\n

The lack of suitable emphasis on LGBT+ content, coupled with the withdrawal of funding for anti-bullying projects in schools that are specific to LGBT+ students, reflects a deliberate stance on the part of the government to sit on the fence, perhaps due to the contentious nature of the subject matter.<\/p>\n

In 2019,\u00a0parental protests<\/a>\u00a0erupted over the \u201cNo Outsiders\u201d programme \u2013 which aimed to teach children about the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 (including, but not limited to, sexual orientation). The government\u2019s lack of clarity on their expectations for schools\u2019 teaching on LGBT+ topics\u00a0was highlighted<\/a>\u00a0by the National Association of Head Teachers.<\/p>\n

LGBT+ anti-bullying projects are needed alongside LGBT+ education under the new relationships and sex education curriculum in order to truly embed short and long-term positive changes for the LGBT+ pupils. The government can no longer afford to take a back seat on this.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Rachel Heah is Lecturer in Law at Lancaster University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly half of LGBT+ pupils\u00a0are bullied in school because of their gender or sexual orientation. In fact, LGBT+ bullying is the\u00a0most common type of bullying\u00a0in schools.\u00a0Just 27%\u00a0of secondary school pupils believe it would be safe to come out as LGBT+ in their schools. Despite this, a 2020 report shows that\u00a0only one-fifth\u00a0of secondary school students report […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":55811,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[9029],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-55810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-change","tag-bullying"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEducation policies in England overlook bullying of LGBT+ pupils - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/education-policies-in-england-overlook-bullying-of-lgbt-pupils\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Education policies in England overlook bullying of LGBT+ pupils - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nearly half of LGBT+ pupils\u00a0are bullied in school because of their gender or sexual orientation. In fact, LGBT+ bullying is the\u00a0most common type of bullying\u00a0in schools.\u00a0Just 27%\u00a0of secondary school pupils believe it would be safe to come out as LGBT+ in their schools. 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