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Scotland

Curriculum for Excellence

Addressing homophobia and creating a more inclusive learning environment is central to Curriculum for Excellence (CfE). One of the aims of CfE is that every child and young person should:

“Know that they are valued and will be supported to become effective contributors, effective learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens”

In particular, tackling homophobia will support work towards the experiences and outcomes described in ‘Health and Well-Being Across Learning: Responsibilities for All’.

Every child and young person is entitled to expect that their learning environment will support them to:

  • Acknowledge diversity and understand that it is everyone’s responsibility to challenge discrimination.
  • Develop their self-awareness, self-worth and respect for others.
  • Experience personal achievement and build resilience and confidence.
  • Understand and develop physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing and social skills.
  • Understand that adults in the school community have a responsibility to look after and listen to their concerns.

Standard for Full Registration (General Teaching Council for Scotland 2006) requires registered teachers to treat all pupils equally, fairly and with respect, and without discrimination. This explicitly includes sexual orientation.
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The Code of Professionalism and Conduct (General Teaching Council for Scotland 2008) highlights that teachers must treat pupils equally, fairly and with respect. Sexual orientation is specifically mentioned:

‘As a teacher, your dealings with learners must not be prejudiced by views about their lifestyle, culture, disability, beliefs, colour, gender, language, sexuality or age.’
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Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 prohibits direct and indirect discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in admission and access to any type of service or benefit. The Scottish Executive have issued guidance clarifying that this requires schools to treat incidents of homophobic bullying as seriously as any other form of bullying:

‘Schools will need to make sure that gay or lesbian pupils, or the children of gay or lesbian parents, do not receive different and less favourable treatment from that given to other pupils. They should check that there are no practices which could result in unfair, less favourable treatment of such pupils. They will need to ensure that homophobic bullying is taken as seriously and dealt with as firmly as bullying on any other ground.’
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The Equality Bill (2009) is likely to be passed by the Westminster Parliament to become law in 2010. It will require public authorities to promote equality on the grounds of sexual orientation in line with existing duties covering race, gender and disability.
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Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) commissioned LGBT Youth Scotland to produce practical resources to help schools tackle homophobia. ‘Dealing with Homophobia and Homophobic Bullying in Scottish Schools Teachers Toolkit and Lesson Plans’ can be freely downloaded from the LTS website, providing a wealth of information developed from working with Scottish schools.
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