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Citizenship education and homophobia

LGBT History Month affords you a great way of opening up debate and discussion about issues of identity and diversity among pupils, staff and the wider community.

December 2009

Introduction...

Make sure you link this to discussions about skin colour, religious identity, ethnic origin, nationality, regional identity etc.

The concept Identities and Diversity - living together in the UK, the school's Duty to Promote Community Cohesion and the advice on PVE Learning Together to be Safe are opportunities to explore aspects of homophobia and the often-violent attitudes towards sexual identity in schools and in the wider community.

Identities and Diversity - living together in the UK is one of the three concepts in the secondary curriculum for Citizenship. This lends itself well to discussion about the diversity of sexual orientation. This topic can also be linked to the other two concepts: Rights and Responsibilities and Democracy and Justice. Think about the rights people have to participate in society - is their sexual orientation relevant? - and the responsibilities we have towards each other. Also think about concepts of social justice and what democracy really means.

10% the population describes themselves as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender. Statistically this includes the STAFF and PUPILS in your school.

Stoke Newington School

Secondary Project

Stoke Newington School is a non-selective, state school, specialising in Arts, Maths, and Science. The school has been celebrating LGBT History Month for the past three years. In 2008, supported by the energy and vision of Music Teacher and Head of Year, Elly Barnes, the aim of the celebration was to ensure that the message of celebrating diversity extended into the community, reaching all students, parents and teachers, in Stoke Newington and across the Borough of Hackney.

Full Case Study

No Outsiders

Primary project

The No Outsiders programme has given children the vocabulary to describe different types of relationships and to develop an awareness of relationships they may not have yet encountered but will most likely meet in the future.

This programme has helped children see that it's ok to be different, that we are all different and therefore we all deserve respect.

Our work in combating homophobia and promoting greater understanding and tolerance of gender issues, gender stereotypes, same-sex parents and same-sex relationships in an open and honest environment shows how all schools should now demonstrate how to respect diversity and act with integrity.

Full case study and recommended resources

20 things your school can do to combat homophobic bullying

1) Define and include ‘homophobic/transphobic bullying’ in the anti- bullying policy.

2) Provide training on recognising and dealing effectively with homophobic/ transphobic abuse and bullying to be made available to all staff. (Note that in Ian Rivers’ research, he found that much of the abuse and bullying took place in situations where teachers are not usually present.)

3) Provide positive images of lesbian, gay bisexual and trans people along-side those of other individuals and community groups, acknowledging the sexuality of famous and successful lesbians, gay bisexual and trans people both past and present. The work needs to be placed in a wider context where LGBT people are seen as citizens and participants in a wide range of activities both past and present. This should happen in the same way as ensuring work presented to pupils includes positive images of black, minority ethnic people, women and people with disabilities, etc.

4) Revisit all policies and practices, especially the equal opportunity policy, to see if LGBT people are included and catered for. (See guideline on language.)

Black History Month

Black History Month is in October This is another great - and perhaps more obvious - way of looking at identity and dviersity. Black History Month teachers' packs are available, but although they can be adapted, there are no explicit Citizenship resources. (We think they may be missing a trick - ed.)