Best Practice

Do your LGBT+ students feel safe at school?

Pastoral issues Safeguarding PSHE Pupil wellbeing
With LGBT+ young people much more like to be bullied and to feel unsafe at school, how can we create a school environment where difference is celebrated? Holly Green advises


All children and young people deserve an education that supports them to thrive.

Children and young people who are LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, questioning, or asexual), or who have LGBT+ family and loved ones, might need particular kinds of support to help them flourish where they learn.

At Stonewall, we work with hundreds of schools and colleges creating educational communities where LGBT+ young people are free to be themselves and achieve their full potential.

We see how impactful this work is: in our 2017 School Report we found that, in schools that actively teach that homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying is wrong, this kind of bullying is less likely to happen overall.

What’s more, LGBT+ pupils are more likely to report bullying if it does happen, and more likely to feel confident that staff will deal with it effectively.

In schools and colleges like these, LGBT+ pupils feel safe and seen – but too many young people are not getting this kind of support.

Research from LGBT+ young people's charity Just Like Us published in 2021 showed that almost half of LGBT+ pupils had been bullied in the past year, more than double the proportion of non-LGBT+ pupils who had experienced bullying.

For pupils who face multiple and intersecting forms of oppression or discrimination, the picture can be even more stark: fewer than half of Black LGBT+ young people and Asian LGBT+ young people reported feeling safe at school, while 6% of black LGBT+ young people said they had never felt safe at school.

All children and young people should feel safe and welcome wherever they learn. But how can schools and colleges make this happen? Here are some quick top tips from Stonewall’s Education, Youth and Sport Team to help you support LGBT+ young people in your setting.


Don’t reinvent the wheel

You may already be doing some great work on LGBT+ inclusion – whether that’s a colleague developing inclusive lesson content, or your lunchtime supervisors doing a great job of challenging homophobic “banter” on the playground. Take some time to audit your existing provision, then build on what you have already got.

Our Getting Started toolkit (Stonewall, 2022) can help you plan and implement your audit with simple action-planning templates. Consulting with pupils and staff can help you build a picture of current practice, as well as identifying areas for improvement. There are also suggestions on surveying pupils and talking to staff about how confident they feel with this work.


Invest in your staff

Our member schools and colleges often tell us that when it comes to tackling homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying effectively, consistency is key.

Working on a shared script to deal with incidents as they arise is an important place to start. However, developing your approach is only the first step – consistent implementation is the next, and most crucial, part.

Responding to incidents in the moment can feel tough for busy school staff: that is why ensuring staff have time and resources to learn more about homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying and its impacts, and to practise using a shared script, is so important. Good quality training can help make this happen.


Consider your curriculum

In Pearson’s recent School Report (2022), only 6% of teachers felt that the current education system effectively supports the aspirations and achievements of non-binary LGBT+ students.

As such, taking things into your own hands and creating an inclusive curriculum in your school that celebrates diversity and helps your children and young people see themselves reflected in what they are taught is vital.

Inclusive lessons respect pupils as individuals, expand their worldview and give them safe spaces in which to reflect.

Our own research tells us LGBT+ children and young people are more likely to engage with lessons if they can see themselves reflected in lesson content – yet 40% of LGBT+ young people have never been taught about LGBT+ issues at all (Stonewall, 2017).

For secondary schools in particular, the statutory requirement in England to include LGBT+ content throughout the relationships, sex, and health education curriculum (DfE, 2019) means this work has never been more important.


Bonus tip: Ask for help when you need it

LGBT+ inclusion is as rewarding as it is challenging – but we know that doing this work can feel hard, especially when school and college resources are stretched.

The good news is that you don’t have to go it alone – there are many organisations that are here to support you to take the next right step for your setting.

For real, positive change to happen, schools must commit to representing different LGBT+ identities across the curriculum and protecting them. If you can build effective whole-school approaches to tackling bullying and celebrating difference, LGBT+ children and young people will see themselves and their loved ones reflected in the teaching they receive and know that their teachers will respond to bullying effectively.

What’s more, students and staff alike will be recognised and affirmed as whole people, with many different aspects that make up their unique identities.

Create a school environment where difference is celebrated, where every child and young person is free to express their identity, whatever that means for them, and you will see your students thrive.


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