7:10am Tuesday 14th April 2009
By Jonathan Portlock
A charity which promotes gay issues in Surrey is to launch an initiative next month to help train teachers in ways to approach and tackle homophobic bullying.
Gino Meriano, who lives in Weybridge, said Gay Surrey had been working on a campaign called Educate Don’t Segregate since last year and hoped Surrey schools would actively show their support.
The launch follows the news that Children’s Minister Delyth Morgan has written to headteachers warning them some school staff and governors were not aware of guidance on how to deal with anti-gay bullying.
In the letter, the Government minister said: “It is important to recognise that homophobic bullying can be deeply damaging to that young person’s confidence and sense of self-worth and it can impact on their ability to realise their full potential and their future life chances.”
The letter also reminded headteachers that, since Section 28 was repealed, there are no barriers to teachers discussing sexual orientation issues in the classroom.
Mr Meriano said: “Recent research found that nine in 10 teachers said pupils experienced homophobic bullying in their schools.
"Yet nine in 10 teachers also said they’ve never received training on how to tackle this problem.
“It also found that more than 150,000 pupils are affected by anti-gay bullying, with boys who work hard, girls who play sport, young people with gay parents and young people who are thought to be gay all suffering from name calling and abuse.
“Nine in 10 secondary school teachers and two in five primary school teachers said pupils experienced homophobic bullying, even if they are not gay.
“Teachers reported that homophobic bullying was the most prevalent form of bullying after bullying because of weight, coming above racism.”
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