■  Ed Balls MP, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families: “Homophobic insults should be viewed as seriously as racism.”

LONDON, September 21, 2007  –  The launch today of the new anti-bullying, web-based resource for schools, Safe to Learn, has been widely welcomed by both the education sector and the gay community.

Safe to Learn includes innovative guidance on homophobic bullying, providing school governors, heads and teachers with access to a dynamic source of practical strategies to challenge the endemic problem of homophobic school bullying.

Every child in every school has the right to learn free from the fear of bullying, whatever form that bullying may take, the guidance points out.  And it adds that everyone involved in a child’s education needs to work together to ensure that this is the case.

It emphasises that schools should play their part to create a society in which people treat each other with respect and insists that both preventing and responding to homophobic bullying must be part of existing bullying strategies.

Stonewall, one of two groups commissioned to produce the guidance, welcomed the publication, especially its section on homophobic bullying, Preventing and Responding to Homophobic Bullying in Schools.  The guidance is online HERE.

“Stonewall is proud to have been commissioned by the DCSF to produce this guidance. The life chances of children bullied at school are often permanently diminished,” Stonewall’s chief executive Ben Summerskill said.

“This tool represents an essential and much welcome step forward in the development of joined-up thinking that will help schools and teachers address all forms of bullying effectively.”

Describing the guidance as “groundbreaking”, EACH director of projects Jonathan Charlesworth said that his group was “proud to have worked in partnership with the DCSF and Stonewall”.

“It will prove an invaluable tool, helping teachers everywhere challenge incidences of homophobic bullying effectively and sensitively, building a healthy culture of respect for diversity within schools,” he said.

The principal teaching unions have consistently been united against homophobic bullying.

“This is the first time that such clear and in-depth guidance on homophobic bullying has been published,” commented Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers.

“Homophobic bullying is the favourite weapon of bullies who pick on pupils who appear different or vulnerable.  Good, experienced teachers can be driven out of the profession by homophobic taunts.”

Launching the guidance, Ed Balls MP, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, pointed out that “homophobic insults should be viewed as seriously as racism.

“Even casual use of homophobic language in schools can create an atmosphere that isolates young people and can be the forerunner of more serious forms of bullying.

“Safe to Learn includes the first ever guidance on tackling homophobic bullying which has been developed in partnership with Stonewall and Educational Action Challenging Homophobia (EACH),” said the minister continued.

“This new package will give school staff the knowledge and skills to intervene effectively in all cases of bullying, helping to develop a zero tolerance culture towards bullying.”

The School Report, Stonewall’s recently-published research into homophobic bullying in Britain’s secondary schools, demonstrated that almost two thirds of young gay people have experienced homophobic bullying.

A staggering ninety seven per cent of gay pupils regularly hear homophobic insults at school, the research found.

And three in ten of the 1,100 young people surveyed said that it was adults in schools who carry out the bullying.

“Homophobic bullying creates an ugly climate of intimidation and makes it harder for young people to come out,” Harriet Harman MP, Secretary of State for Equality, pointed out.

“Teachers and schools can tackle homophobic bullying and this guidance will help them,” she said.

Speaking on behalf of the Anti-Bullying Alliance, Gill Frances, director of well-being at the National Children's Bureau said: “We are so pleased that we now have such strong anti-homophobic bullying guidance from Government.

“No young person should feel frightened and threatened – all students can now feel safer knowing that school staff can address homophobic bullying with confidence and the support from government.”

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Posted: 21 September 2007 at 20:00 (UK time)