Schools impelled to promote positive images of gay families

The call came from campaign group Schools Out after a survey of 750 teachers in the Greater Manchester area revealed that 87 per cent had heard or seen homophobic abuse in their school.

The Greater Manchester Prevalence of Homophobia Report 2012, carried out by the National Union of Teachers and sponsored by Schools Out, found that half of teachers see or hear homophobic abuse on a weekly basis.

Nearly all those surveyed (97 per cent) want to see schools clampdown on homophobia, but only 77 per cent said their school was doing so. A similar proportion (72 per cent) called for specific training to deal with homophobia in their classroom.

The survey also revealed that 14 per cent of teachers were subjected to homophobic abuse during the last school year.

A spokeswoman for Schools Out said: “One of the big problems is the use of the word ‘gay’ to mean that something is rubbish. Too often it is dismissed as banter or teachers do not feel confident enough to tackle this in the classroom. As the survey found, teachers would welcome support and training to give them that confidence.”

She added that better promotion of LGBT people within the curriculum would also help combat homophobia. “There is so much that can be done in lessons," she said. "For instance, if an example in a maths lessons refers to a families’ finances, why not include a gay couple in that?”

The survey has been backed by the Greater Manchester Police Authority’s chairman Paul Murphy, who said he hoped the findings would help build links between the police and schools to tackle homophobia.