Memorandum submitted by the General Teaching
Council (GTC)
SUMMARY
In spring 2006, researchers from the University
of Sunderland worked in partnership with the GTC to explore the
issue of homophobia in schools. The following key themes were
identified:
(a) The invisibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender parents, despite the likelihood of their presence
in the community, and despite the impact of the Civil Partnership
Act.
(b) The emotional energy expended by lesbian
and gay teachers in concealing their sexual orientation through
fear of adverse reactions, and the concomitant effects on their
wellbeing and teaching.
(c) The lack of representation, for children
in families with same-sex parents (or other relatives) of their
everyday life experiences within and beyond the school curriculum.
(d) The tendency of teachers (whether heterosexual
or non-heterosexual) to take a reactive rather than a proactive
approach to addressing sexualities equality, where it is addressed
at all.
(e) The underestimation by teachers of the
significance of homophobic bullying in primary schools.
INTRODUCTION
1. The General Teaching Council for England
(GTC) is the independent professional body for the teaching profession.
Its main duties are to regulate the teaching profession and to
advise the Secretary of State on a range of issues that concern
teaching and learning. The Council acts in the public interest
to contribute to raising the standards of teaching and learning.
2. This memorandum provides evidence on
one particular aspect of the Select Committee's inquiry—the
issue of homophobia in schools. This evidence is taken from work
that researchers from the University of Sunderland carried out
in partnership with the GTC, exploring the issue of homophobia
in primary schools. The Council supports Stonewall and its partners
to highlight and challenge homophobic bullying in schools, which
can blight the lives of teachers and pupils.
EVIDENCE OF
HOMOPHOBIA IN
SCHOOLS
3. The urgency of addressing this issue
is demonstrated by evidence—examined by Elizabeth Atkinson
and Renee DePalma of the University of Sunderland—showing
the continued prevalence of homophobia in schools, [1]and
evidence that heteronormativity (the normalisation of heterosexuality
to the exclusion of any other identities) is maintained in schools
through both active and passive means. [2]
4. School homophobia has been recognised
and addressed in a range of international contexts. In the US,
the National Mental Health Association asserts that while four
out of five young LGBT people surveyed could not identify a single
supportive adult in their schools, those that did identify adult
support tended to report that they felt a sense of belonging in
the school. [3]
5. An Australian study linked the heteronormative
environment in schools with depression, self-harm, and dropping
out for LGBT pupils. [4]Research
in Canada found that 40% of homeless youth identify as gay, lesbian,
or bisexual, and that the vast majority of those interviewed remembered
their school experience in strongly negative terms. [5]
6. Research in Sweden suggests that violence
against perceived homosexuals is enacted as a means of gender
construction and is simultaneously a developmental, communicative,
and social act. [6]This
implies that reducing homophobic violence is more likely to occur
through systemic social change than through simply preventing
or reducing particular acts of violence. Such a change requires
an interrogation of the assumptions underpinning heteronormativity,
not only in terms of what is said and done, but also in terms
of what is left out of the official discourse.
CHALLENGING HOMOPHOBIA:
DOES EVERY
CHILD MATTER?
7. The GTC web forum Challenging homophobia:
Does every child matter? was designed by Elizabeth Atkinson and
Rene«e DePalma as part of a broader research project investigating
homophobia in primary schools in the UK. The forum was hosted
by the GTC for three months, from 30 January until 30 April 2006.
As a research project with an equity agenda, the forum had the
following goals:
— to learn more about teachers' perspectives
and the challenges they face in challenging homophobia in schools;
— to use results from the forum to
highlight policy implications for Government;
— to use the results to feed into Atkinson
and DePalma's 28-month research project into teachers' best practice
in promoting sexuality equality; and
— to contribute to the Education for
All campaign led by Stonewall, which aims to challenge homophobia
in schools.
8. The GTC forum was part of a broader research
project that began in 2004 and will conclude in 2008. Along with
the results from the other phases of the research, the results
from the forum research will help inform the next phase of the
research project, a university-teacher collaborative action research
project (see para 22).
KEY THEMES
ARISING FROM
THE RESEARCH
9. The researchers were primarily interested
in the narratives teachers brought to the discussion, the ways
in which they interacted with each other, and the ideas they shared
and challenged. Several key themes emerged from the forum, and
these appear to be congruent with the themes emerging from the
wider research programme. The themes include:
(a) The invisibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender parents, despite the likelihood of their presence
in the community, and despite the impact of the Civil Partnership
Act, brought into force in December 2005.
10. The research found that posters made
reference to (apparently) heterosexual parents who might be offended
or angry if teachers addressed sexualities equality in the classroom.
Nevertheless, there was no mention of gay and lesbian parents
who might be angry about their own lack of representation. These
two concurrent themes, fear of parent reprisal for addressing
LGBT issues and the complete invisibility of similarly threatening
parental pressure for diverse representation, suggest a troubling
balance of parental power.
(b) The emotional energy expended by lesbian
and gay teachers in concealing their sexual orientation through
fear of adverse reactions, and the concomitant effects on their
wellbeing and teaching.
11. For example, when one poster suggested
that it was important for gay and lesbian teachers to "take
a stance" on gay and lesbian rights in schools, another poster
related the experience of a gay headteacher:
"Who's going to do that? I know a gay Head
and I don't think he has ever been comfortable to stand up for
gay kids, teachers, etc. I think it's a lot to expect of somebody
in that position, especially if it's personal and it could reflect
on them and affect their career."
12. Another poster, who identified as an
out secondary teacher, argued it might be even more difficult
for LGBT teachers than for heterosexual teachers to take a stance:
"It is here that schools can fall into the
trap of assuming that only their gay and lesbian staff are best
equipped to deliver PSD lessons on homosexuality or tackle issues
of homophobic bullying. It is sometimes these teachers who find
it the most difficult talking openly about homosexuality, if perhaps
for fear of being `outed' or facing recrimination from pupils
and staff alike."
13. In fact, overall, the researchers were
surprised to find that so few teachers were openly gay in their
primary classrooms. Even this poster, one of the few out gay teachers
we encountered, sees staff and pupil recrimination to be a significant
threat.
(c) The lack of representation, for children
in families with same-sex parents (or other relatives) of their
everyday life experiences within and beyond the school curriculum.
14. One trainee teacher reported:
"[...] lots of books make their primary
aim to address LGBT issues (which is fine) but few books simply
include LGBT characters without making an issue out of it. Then
if you get hold of something relevant to the curriculum you're
teaching, there's the difficulty of actually getting colleagues
to accept the reading of stories with LGBT characters/themes.
Whilst teaching a topic on fairy tales, I wanted to read King
and King—a fairy tale about two princes falling in love—to
my placement class. The class teacher I was working with said
that it wasn't appropriate despite the fact that we were looking
at how fairy tales have been adapted and our work earlier in the
topic had dealt very explicitly with heterosexual love between
characters."
15. This posting addresses not only a lack
of resources but is also a clear example of how heteronormativity
works in schools. As she points out, heterosexual love was explicitly
"promoted" in this lesson, but a story depicting love
between two men was excluded for being "inappropriate".
(d) The tendency of teachers (whether heterosexual
or non-heterosexual) to take a reactive rather than a proactive
approach to addressing sexualities equality, where it is addressed
at all.
16. One poster, for example, argued that
addressing sexualities equality might cause children to start
thinking about sex too early:
"Since `school age' children are up to the
age of 16, and given that the law as it stands says it is illegal
to have sex under 16, any adults who encourage children to give
themselves a sexual label or to become sexually active, are actually
doing the child a great dis-service and causing confusion. A child
should not be encouraged to think of themselves as gay."
17. Atkinson and DePalma's wider research
has suggested that this implicit association with sex is one of
the strongest deterrents for approaching LGBT rights as a diversity
and equality, rather than sex education, issue. Some posters maintained
that this is why school and government support is so important.
One argued that while he felt supported by government to proactively
address other diversity and equality issues, there were no mandates
or guidelines for proactively addressing sexualities equality:
"The NC [National Curriculum] does go some
way in promoting the teaching of non-discriminatory practices,
but there is no visible outline for the delivery of sexuality
as opposed to racial, ethnic or religious diversity. In the Key
Stage 3 and 4 (KS3/4) NC Personal Social Health Education (PSHE)
Strategy there is still no mention of the words `lesbian/gay/bisexual'
or `homosexuality' in relation to diversity, relationships or
sex."
(e) The underestimation by teachers of the
significance of homophobic bullying in primary schools
18. Many teachers referred to the invisibility
of not only homophobia, but LGBT people. This invisibility ran
as a strong theme across postings, and frequent references were
made to invisibility and silence around homophobia.
19. These silences and invisibilities described
by many of the participants suggest that teachers in general are
unable to identify homophobia as a problem, much less consider
solutions. This coincides with the literature stating that heteronormativity
and homophobia function to silence victims and critics as well
as to normalise the practices that undermine diversity. [7]On
a more positive note, one poster reported that a conference about
homophobia had led teachers to recognise it in ways they had not
previously considered:
"It made uncomfortable listening for the
teachers and headteachers who were present. The evaluations from
the conference were amazing—people said it was the most
moving and thought-provoking conference they had ever been to
and were inspired to go back into school to tackle this issue."
CONCLUSIONS AND
NEXT STEPS
FOR THIS
RESEARCH
20. The themes described above have general
implications for the education community. They add to the evidence
base that suggests that more needs to be done to challenge homophobia
and heteronormativity in schools, and propose specific areas to
be tackled. The strong presence on the forum of posters who clearly
supported an LGBT-rights perspective provided an encouraging sign
that many teachers are committed to promoting LGBT rights and
equality in schools. Their presence provides a strong base to
support the Education for All campaign.
21. Following this research, Elizabeth Atkinson
and Rene«e DePalma, in collaboration with colleagues from
the University of Exeter and the Institute of Education, University
of London, have now been funded by the Economic and Social Research
Council to carry out a 28-month project in primary schools. In
this project, entitled "No Outsiders", teachers will
develop ideas and resources to address lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender equality in primary schools and their communities.
The outcomes will be disseminated via the Teacher Training Resource
Bank, a documentary film and an edited book of teaching ideas.
FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION
22. The full report is available from the
Equalities section of the GTC website: www.gtce.org.uk/equalities/homophobia.
The full online discussion can be viewed at the GTC forums archive:
www.gtce.org.uk/forums—home/ArchiveForums
October 2006
1 Mason and Palmer, 1996; Douglas, et al, 1997;
Malcolm et al, 2003; Warwick et al, 2004; Macgillivray,
2004. Back
2
Mac an Ghaill, 1994; Epstein and Johnson, 1998; Epstein et
al, 2003. Back
3
National Mental Health Association, 2005. Back
4
Dyson et al, 2003. Back
5
de Castell and Jenson, 2002. Back
6
Knutagard, 2005. Back
7
Epstein et al, Telford, 2003. Back
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