Govt urged to tackle homophobic bullying in schools

Gay rights campaigners today called on the Government to immediately develop a national strategy to deal with homophobia in schools.

As a report revealed shocking levels of bullying of youngsters perceived to be gay, the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network demanded teachers be given the skills to deal with it.

The survey of 364 teachers found almost 80% were aware of instances of verbal bullying where homophobic terms were used and 16% reported physical bullying of students labelled homosexual by their peers.

Eoin Collins, spokesman for GLEN, warned schools were out of step with the rest of society.

“It is very alarming that yet another generation of young people have to experience school as torture. It is terrible that that is still happening and we would be hugely concerned about that,” he said.

“We will be urging the Department of Education and Science to take very, very strong national strategic action to ensure that schools are putting in place procedures and policies that make schools safe learning environments for all students.”

Mr Collins said policies needed to be implemented that address the causes and deal with the effects.

Despite the Education Act and the Equal Status Act both being drawn up to cover such bullying in schools the wider education community were not taking on board the seriousness of the problem, he noted.

The findings were contained in a book commissioned by the Gender Equality Unit of the Department of Education and Science on gay and lesbian issues in second level schools.

The DCU study concluded that the Catholic Church’s teachings are very influential on what is taught about relationships and sexuality.

Mr Collins added: “I think the issue of religious ethos has come to be seen at times as a possible cause for concern.”

Only 10% of schools include any reference to homophobic bullying in their school policy on anti-bullying, the report noted. It said teachers feared improving homosexual education due to parental and staff disapproval and a lack of policy guidelines.

Researchers said 41% of teachers found it more difficult to deal with homophobic bullying in their school than other types of bullying.

Among the reasons for this were a desire to be sensitive to the victim, lack of guidelines, and a fear of the possible reaction from parents, other staff and students if they were seen to side with the student thought to be lesbian or gay.

A report from 2004 ‘A Survey of Teachers on Homophobic Bullying in Irish Second-Level Schools’ found that 90% of respondents said their school anti-bullying policy made no reference to lesbian or gay related abuse.

Olwyn Enright TD, Fine Gael education spokeswoman, backed calls for a national anti-bullying strategy in all schools.

“The incidence of homophobic bullying in Irish schools continues unchecked and unchallenged. This should not come as a surprise,” she said.

“The latest findings again indicate that homophobic bullying, as with all incidences of bullying at school, must be proactively tackled. This is simply not happening at the moment.”