1. Tackling homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in schools
Allan Torr HMI
January 2015
Ask questions throughout – there is no such thing as a silly question,
it is probably what everyone else is wondering.
The term ‘LGBT’ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.
‘Gay’ is not a swear word – use the terminology freely and confidently.

2. The Government view The law Equality Act
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3. National priority
Nicky Morgan, Secretary of State for Education, said:
“Homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying affects everyone, not just young people who may identify as LGBT.”
Any child “who is different can find themselves subjected to distressing and intimidating homophobic abuse.”
Jo Swinson, Minister for Women and Equalities, said:
Children “should grow up feeling safe expressing who they are, and we know that homophobic bullying stands in the way of this…. We know the damage bullies can cause to young people’s self-esteem and educational attainment. There should be absolutely no excuse for this taking place.”
Stress the link to safeguarding and protecting all children from bullying.
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4. National Priority Michael Gove:
“It’s utterly outrageous and medieval to think that to use the word gay as an insult is somehow acceptable”.
“no child should see homosexuality as a legitimate source for humour.”
“language in playgrounds isn’t effectively policed,”
“if you’re growing up wrestling with your sexuality…the last thing you need to feel at school is any sense that the difficulties with which you’re wrestling or the path on which you wish to embark are in any way a legitimate subject for humour, ostracising or prejudice.”
Stress the link to humour. Few schools have tackled issues regarding jokes,
banter etc and this usually slips between behaviour and anti-bullying policies
and is therefore not tackled.
This sometimes traps adults by responding to jokes or banter or initiating it
‘to keep in with the children’.
Consider the scenario which is a real-life example.
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5. The law
The Education and Inspections Act section 89 of the Act - schools must identify and implement measures to promote good behaviour and respect for others and prevent all forms of bullying.
Equality Act makes it unlawful for the responsible body of a school to discriminate against, harass or victimise a pupil: in relation to admissions; in the way it provides education for pupils; the way it provides any benefit, facility or service; by excluding a pupil or subjecting them to any other detriment.
Stress this is a key ‘fall-back’ position in light of complaints or protests from
governors or parents.
Ask: what are the 9 protected characteristics?
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6. The Law
The PSED requires all bodies to: Public Sector Equality Duty Act 5th April 2011
Eliminate unlawful discrimination and other conduct that is prohibited by the Act
Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not
Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.
Stress the statutory duty for fostering good relations between LGBT and
non-LGBT
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7. The Equality Act
Are there exemptions to the Equalities Act for childminders, faith groups, management committees, early years settings, academies, free schools, faith schools?
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8. The Equality Act No
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9. Expectations Leadership and management Behaviour and safety
Prejudiced based bullying
Use of derogatory language
Cultural development
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10. Leadership and management
145. Inspectors should be mindful of a school’s obligations under the Equalities Act 2010 and, in particular, the protected characteristics.
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11. Leadership and management
152. how well leadership ensures that the curriculum:
complies with legislation, preparing pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life in modern Britain;
promotes tolerance of and respect for people of all faiths (or those of no faith), races, genders, ages, disability and sexual orientations (and other groups with protected characteristics ) through the effective spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils
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12. Leadership and management
165. Inspectors should consider whether governors:
carry out their statutory duties, such as safeguarding
ensure that they and the school promote tolerance of and respect for people of all faiths (or those of no faith), races, genders, ages, disability and sexual orientations (and other groups with protected characteristics ) and support and help, through their words, actions and influence within the school and more widely in the community, to prepare children and young people positively for life in modern Britain
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13. Behaviour and safety
Inspectors should consider:
types, rates and patterns of bullying and the effectiveness of the school’s actions to prevent and tackle all forms of bullying and harassment – this includes cyber-bullying and prejudice-based bullying related to special educational need, sexual orientation, sex, race, religion and belief, gender reassignment or disability
the effectiveness of the school’s actions to prevent and tackle discriminatory and derogatory language – this includes language that is derogatory about disabled people, and homophobic and racist language
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14. Social development Inspectors should consider:
133. The social development of pupils is shown by their:
 use of a range of social skills in different contexts, including working and socialising with pupils from different religious, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds
 acceptance and engagement with the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs; the pupils develop and demonstrate skills and attitudes that will allow them to participate fully in and contribute positively to life in modern Britain.
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15. Cultural development
134. The cultural development of pupils is shown by their
 understanding and appreciation of the wide range of cultural influences that have shaped their own heritage and that of others
 understanding and appreciation of the range of different cultures within school and further afield as an essential element of their preparation for life in modern Britain
 willingness to participate in and respond positively to artistic, sporting and cultural opportunities
 interest in exploring, improving understanding of and showing respect for different faiths and cultural diversity, and the extent to which they understand, accept, respect and celebrate diversity, as shown by their tolerance and attitudes towards different religious, ethnic and socio-economic groups in the local, national and global communities.
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16. Inspections Staff bullying based training
Teaching of diversity to pupils
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17. During inspection
Inspectors should explore with a range of staff, including teaching assistants, the training they have had about different aspects of bullying, including prejudice-based bullying; how confident they feel as result; how well supported they are by senior staff when they encounter bullying and how they promote an understanding of individual differences through the curriculum.
In particular, inspectors should consider how pupils are taught about diversity in subjects such as personal, social and health education (PSHE) and citizenship. Where bullying is an issue and staff training and/or the curriculum is weak this should be reflected in the judgement on leadership and management.
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18. Pupil experiences What bullying is commonly related to
Frequent staff responses
Reasons pupils don’t report bullying
Reporting and recording of bullying
Best practice
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19. 2012 survey, ‘No place for bullying’
Inspectors visited 65 schools:
37 primary schools and 19 secondary schools for the main part of the survey
5 schools for LGBT focus
4 schools for disability focus.
Academies, selective and non-selective schools and faith schools, and schools of different sizes were all included.
Schools were in the north, midlands and south, including London. They included rural, semi-rural, coastal and city schools.
What were the most common types of bullying reported to inspectors?
2 minutes to identify the most common types
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20. Pupils’ experiences Bullying was commonly related to:
friendship issues
appearance
sexuality or perceived sexuality
family name or background
race
ability/intelligence
religion, faith or no faith
disability
Stress appearance; intelligence and homophobia as these were the most common
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21. Staff response:
Most staff commented that they ‘never’ heard prejudice-based language, such as homophobic or racist language, or language related to disability, from pupils.
The importance to getting the views of the bullied child not just pupils
selected by the school.
Common strategies used by inspectors: ask for a group of excluded pupils,
Low attenders, those who have alleged bullied, anonymised survey questions.
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22. Why isn’t it reported?
I was too uncomfortable with my sexuality to report bullying.
I’m too embarrassed to report it: they get your parents in!
‘Dinner ladies don’t do anything about it.’
If the teachers think it’s banter then they’ll just laugh it off.’
‘If Mr M hears you say ‘gay’ like that he’ll really, really tell you, but no-one else does.’
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23. Incident reporting – ‘No place for bullying’
Often, recording of incidents was informal, leading to considerable variation from class to class. It was the responsibility of the class teacher to record behaviour and bullying incidents for each class.
Because senior leaders had not set any parameters for what should be recorded and how, the quality and detail of recording varied enormously, leaving senior leaders unable to analyse the information robustly.
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24. Recording and reporting
Headteachers usually reported to the governing body on general matters regarding behaviour, only 22 of the governing bodies surveyed received specific reports about bullying/language. Often reports to governors contained little analysis.
Incidents of bullying were only recorded in individual pupils’ files with no centrally held records. No one person had a clear overview of bullying incidents based on data and there had been no consideration of the possible implications for the curriculum.
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25. Good practice:
Recording was based on a clear definition of bullying including derogatory language and teasing/taunts/banter, so staff were clear about what they needed to record.
An account of each incident, including where it took place. This allowed the school to produce a full analysis on a frequent basis.
Because the recording was systematic and detailed, the analyses and reports were able to group incidents into a wide range of categories, including name-calling, persistent sarcastic remarks or teasing, threats or spreading rumours, ridicule or humiliation, spoiling work, demanding money or valuables, and sending hurtful text or other unwanted electronic messages, homophobia, transphobia etc. Pupils’ characteristics were also noted.
Incidents were followed up a day, a week, a month later.
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26. A result of homophobia:
Allan - Dominic was a on a school trip, played a game of spin the bottle with friends and was videoed, kissing another boy. After returning to school the video was passed around by pupils and he was labelled as gay. He walked out of school, climbed to the top of a local council building and after two hours he jumped off of it and died later that night of his injuries.18 months later, a DCS for Gloucestershire, hung himself.
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27. Any questions?