A teachers’ survey in Lancashire following up one carried out in 2008 shows homophobia in schools is still rife. The survey, carried out by Lancashire NUT and shown on the Schools OUT website, shows that over the past four years:
- There has been a decrease in general homophobia
- there has been an increase in homophobia aimed against staff by pupils
- more teachers believe whole school training is needed to tackle homophobia
Schools OUT co-chair Tony Fenwick said: “Although two of these changes show progress, they need to be seen in the light of the fact that the Equality Act has been law for over two years, schools have been subject to the Public Sector Duty for over one year and schools had to report back on their progress in April. In the light of this they are disappointing. The Governemt needs to be more pro-active in challenging homophobia – and transphobia in our schools.”
The Prevalence of Homophobia Survey is a LEA based survey that has rolled out across the North and beyond since 2007. It has questioned teachers and found alarming levels of homophobia are existent and largely tolerated in our schools. It is a continuous survey that measures different types and levels of homophobia, as well as recording attitudes among teachers and change. It is designed to show the need for teacher training on equality and diversity in the classroom.
The report is here: Lancashire 2