Written Question · S4W-30209 · Session 4
What guidance it provides to local authorities to address LGBTI-phobia in schools.
The question
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides to local authorities to address LGBTI-phobia in schools.
The answer
The Scottish Government takes bullying very seriously. Bullying of any kind, including homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying, is unacceptable and must be addressed whenever it arises.
We want all children and young people to be free from discrimination, so that they can learn and reach their full potential. The Scottish Government launched ‘A National Approach to Anti-bullying for Scotland’s Children and Young People’ in 2010. The approach forms part of our wider attempts to improve the health and wellbeing of our children and young people. There have been many policy developments since the publication of the national approach and a working group was established in January 2015 to refresh the approach which included Stonewall Scotland and LGBT Youth Scotland. The purpose of the refreshed national approach is to communicate and promote a common vision and aims to make sure that work across all sectors and communities is consistently and coherently contributing to a holistic approach to anti-bullying, including prejudice-based bullying in Scotland. The guidance will be published in spring 2016.
To support this we have established and wholly fund respectme, a national anti-bullying service, to build confidence and capacity to address all types of bullying effectively, aligned to the National Approach. respectme provide direct support to local authorities, schools, youth groups and all those working with children and young people and is jointly managed by SAMH and LGBT Youth Scotland.
Education Scotland also continue to provide support around promoting positive relationships with children and young people, which includes providing support and resources for schools around anti-bullying strategies.
We funded LGBT Youth Scotland to develop a toolkit
- Dealing with Homophobia and Homophobic Bullying in ScottishSchools (2009) to support teachers in recognising, challenging, and reducing homophobia and homophobic bullying in their schools; and we will be working with the relevant partners to update this toolkit to ensure it remains current and continues to support teachers and children and young people.
We want all children and young people to be free from discrimination, so that they can learn and reach their full potential. The Scottish Government launched ‘A National Approach to Anti-bullying for Scotland’s Children and Young People’ in 2010. The approach forms part of our wider attempts to improve the health and wellbeing of our children and young people. There have been many policy developments since the publication of the national approach and a working group was established in January 2015 to refresh the approach which included Stonewall Scotland and LGBT Youth Scotland. The purpose of the refreshed national approach is to communicate and promote a common vision and aims to make sure that work across all sectors and communities is consistently and coherently contributing to a holistic approach to anti-bullying, including prejudice-based bullying in Scotland. The guidance will be published in spring 2016.
To support this we have established and wholly fund respectme, a national anti-bullying service, to build confidence and capacity to address all types of bullying effectively, aligned to the National Approach. respectme provide direct support to local authorities, schools, youth groups and all those working with children and young people and is jointly managed by SAMH and LGBT Youth Scotland.
Education Scotland also continue to provide support around promoting positive relationships with children and young people, which includes providing support and resources for schools around anti-bullying strategies.
We funded LGBT Youth Scotland to develop a toolkit
- Dealing with Homophobia and Homophobic Bullying in ScottishSchools (2009) to support teachers in recognising, challenging, and reducing homophobia and homophobic bullying in their schools; and we will be working with the relevant partners to update this toolkit to ensure it remains current and continues to support teachers and children and young people.
In the Official Report
No contribution in the Official Report cites S4W-30209 by reference.