Best Practice

Homophobia: What do you see?

Pastoral issues Behaviour Pupil wellbeing
How much homophobic bullying in schools do we, as teachers, actually see? A senior school leader looks at the prevalence of incidents and asks what we, as schools, can do

I am writing this piece anonymously because I wish to protect the identity of my school and students, rather than myself. I hope one day anonymising won’t be necessary.

I teach students who are openly gay. To me, who didn’t even come out to my family until after university, this makes me both proud and envious; I wish I had had their courage.

A few years ago, a friend asked me if it was “easier” nowadays to come out. Yes, I said. Our students are much less likely to be bullied like we were, I said. And I truly believed this until recently.

I had a conversation with an 11-year-old student who reported being bullied by a group of boys who kept spreading rumours about his sexuality on social media. He was inconsolable. I asked how often this happened. “All the time, sir,” he said, incredulous that I had asked.

I wondered how I had missed it. I spoke with his head of year and his teachers. None of them realised what he had been going through. I felt awful – and I genuinely felt that I was failing in my job. It made me wonder the prevalence of homophobia, and whether as teachers we always notice it. The research would suggest that we do not.

In 2014, Stonewall released research on the prevalence of homophobia in Britain’s schools, entitled The Teachers Report. It was the first since the ground-breaking School Report of 2012, which surveyed student attitudes. The 2012 research found that:

  • Fifty-five per cent of LGBT students experience regular homophobic bullying.
  • Almost every student surveyed (99 per cent) had heard the word “gay” used in a derogatory casual phrase; 96 per cent had heard other terms such as “lezza” or “poof” used in homophobic remarks.
  • The most common insult reported by students was “faggot” or “queer”.
  • When reported to staff, three in five students said that teachers rarely, if ever, intervened in homophobic bullying.
  • Only 10 per cent of teachers actually challenged offensive usage of LGBT terminology.

Yet findings in 2014 from The Teachers Report, which surveyed teachers rather than students, painted a much more positive picture. While it corroborated the extent of homophobic bullying in schools, with almost 90 per cent saying that they had witnessed it in some form, other findings were less correlative. By contrast it found that:

  • Only 13 per cent of teachers reported that students are often or very often the victim of homophobic bullying.
  • Thirty-six per cent of teachers reported hearing derogatory use of the word “gay”; 65 per cent had heard students use terms such as “poof”, “dyke” or “faggot”.
  • Fifty-five per cent said they do not challenge homophobic behaviour every time they see it.

So, either things have progressed exponentially in the two years between the studies, or we, as teachers and leaders, are blind to the bullying that goes on in our schools.

I have wracked my brain, and the brains of others, to think of ways to make teachers more aware and proactive in tackling homophobic behaviour among our students.

First, we need to make it explicit to students that persecuting others verbally or physically, casually or directly, for their sexuality is absolutely unacceptable. This message needs reinforcing constantly and defending, publicly, continuously.

Then, we need to open the dialogue between students and teachers around LGBT issues, especially homophobic bullying. If students know there is a safe person or place to go to, they will use this forum to discuss or report any issues they face. LGBT students need to know that we are as ardently on their side as we would be for students who are the victim of racism, sexism or any other form of bigotry.

Finally, we need to change the minds of young people who find homosexuality “wrong” by educating them and engaging with them. Teachers can do this indirectly but students need to be listened to and have their ideas – no matter how narrow-minded it may seem – acknowledged and discussed to illustrate why their feelings and thoughts are not fair. And if we can’t change their minds, we must ensure that they learn to act in ways that are respectful.

There is a great deal of work to be done on how to reduce homophobic bullying, and sadly I’m not sure that all schools are trying hard enough to fight it. How can we ensure the best for every child while we ignore what is right in front of us? I am genuinely interested in your views.

  • The author of this article is an assistant principal from a school in London and a member of the Future Leaders leadership develop programme. A version of this article first appeared on the Future Leaders blog at www.future-leaders.org.uk/insights-blog/

Further information