Stopping homophobic bullying in schools

Having experienced homophobic bullying first-hand, deputy head Shaun Dellenty has taken steps to ensure that pupils, staff and parents at Al

In 2007, The Teachers’ Report by Stonewall found that 75% of primary teachers are used to hearing the phrases “You’re so gay” or “That’s so gay” in their schools. When I ran my own questionnaire with KS2 children at our school, I discovered a similar proportion were hearing homophobic language daily. Having presented this data to staff and pupils, we agreed that if we replaced the world ‘homophobic’ with ‘racist’, we would feel negligent in not tackling the issue.

A further questionnaire revealed that staff were in urgent need of training – 65% felt that using the word “gay” as a pejorative was not homophobic. Those who were trying to tackle homophobic incidents were doing so by telling pupils, “Don’t use the word gay. It isn’t a very nice thing to say”, without realising they were reinforcing the negative association with being LGBT.

An audit of our school policies revealed the strategies I needed were already in place, but the words ‘homophobic bullying/ language’ would have to be explicit alongside references to racism in key documents such as the parent handbook, home school agreement, single equality policy and behaviour charter.

Although staff and pupils agreed something had to be done, there were a number of barriers to negotiate before we could press ahead. Were the children too young? Would we upset parents or religious groups? And is saying a pair of trainers is ‘gay’ really homophobic? We discussed these issues sensitively, using the data I had gathered, the Stonewall reports, and drawing on my own experience as a gay child desperately trying to make it through school in one piece. A Stonewall DVD called FIT also provided a great starting point for open debate.

Through training, staff became clear that we did not have to talk about gay sex to tackle homophobic bullying. Instead, we needed to remind children in KS1 that some people have two mummies or two daddies, and define the terms ‘gay’, ‘lesbian’, ‘bisexual’ and ‘transgender’ for pupils in KS2 - stressing that these people exist in our society, as do heterosexual people and single parents. Another clear message was that the word ‘gay’, if used incorrectly, could be as offensive to a gay person as the ‘N’ word to a black person.

We used the principles of Philosophy for Children to enable differing opinions to be voiced with empathy, dignity and respect. No one was asking anyone to change a deeply held view on gay relationships. Instead, we all agreed that LGBT people exist, may play a part in pupils’ lives, or that pupils themselves may be gay and it is, therefore, our moral duty as school leaders to protect them from bullying.

Training was followed up by the introduction of a range of texts reflecting different families, and circle time sessions examining discrimination, prejudice and bullying in all its forms. A range of high profile role-models are now studied – including people who happen to be LGBT, such as Alan Turning and Harvey Milk – alongside Stephen Hawking, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King.

We shared what we were doing with parents as part of Anti-Bullying Week and this was met with support. During a KS2 assembly I confirmed that I am gay and was myself bullied at school; providing a successful and, hopefully, well-liked and respected gay role-model.

It certainly does help to have someone who is actually LGBT to talk your staff through any fears or misconceptions and this is where organisations such as Stonewall, Diversity Role Models, Schools Out and shaundellenty.com – yes, that was a shameless plug – can help.

Ofsted found our work on homophobia to be outstanding and fulfilling our statutory obligations. The inspector could see that by tackling this ‘last bastion of prejudice’ our whole school community had developed a much keener sense of the nature of prejudice and discrimination in all its forms, which is wonderful.

Our journey has brought our school community even closer together, and I am now sharing this message in schools, conferences and training sessions around the country. I hope many others will take up the challenge and make their schools more inclusive for all staff, parents and – most of all – those brilliant, funny and exciting little human beings in our care. They all deserve an equal chance of living, learning, playing and growing free from prejudice, discrimination and bullying. Do it for the kids, please?