The Education for All campaign is run by the Stonewall Education Team – the Senior and Education Officers who work with national agencies and produce resources, the Education Champion Coordinators who work with Local Authorities, and a Youth Coordinator who works with young people. We also have offices, and Education staff, in Scotland and Wales.
Stonewall's research The School Report showed that homophobic bullying is endemic in Britain's schools with almost two thirds of lesbian, gay and bisexual young people having experienced it. The Teachers' Report revealed that nine in ten primary and secondary school teachers have never had any specific training on preventing and tackling homophobic bullying.
Stonewall's Education for All campaign, launched in 2005, works to change this and to help create a Britain where all children and young people feel able to be themselves and can learn free from fear of bullying.
We influence national decision and policy makers by working directly with Government and national agencies. We ensure that homophobic bullying is part of national strategies and included in emerging policies, for example, the Every Child Matters agenda. We produce awareness raising materials including Some people are gay. Get over it! posters and stickers, training and teaching resources including Spell It Out, Teachers’ Packs and FIT, and Education Guides to provide teachers with the tools and confidence to tackle homophobic bullying. We have also developed guidance on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families. In the next 12 months we will be working with national, regional and local agencies to develop appropriate resources for primary schools.
At the heart of our campaign are young people's needs and their ideas inform our work. Through Stonewall's Youth Volunteering Programme young people are gaining the knowledge, skills and confidence to run their own campaigns against homophobic bullying and to make their voice heard. Our Youth Volunteers also work with a Youth Leader and have the opportunity to meet lesbian, gay and bisexual adults. These invaluable role models help raise aspirations and ambitions.
Some youth volunteers are directly involved in the anti-bullying work of their local authorities which are members of Stonewall's Education Champions programme. Through this programme, local authorities become members and work with Stonewall to create an action plan for tackling homophobic bullying and supporting their local schools to do the same. The programme provides a unique opportunity for local authorities to network and share good practice about homophobic bullying and sexual orientation.
Our annual Education for All Conference provides a unique opportunity for practitioners to come together and hear from each other, policy makers and anyone else working with children and young people and to share good practice.
The Education for All campaign works in a coalition with over 70 organisations including government departments, local authorities, unions, voluntary and community organisations and community groups.
During the last five years we have made considerable progress in preventing homophobic bullying in secondary schools and enabling all young people, regardless of their sexual orientation, to realize their potential. But there is a lot more to do.
Recent polling conducted for Stonewall found that more than two in five primary school teachers say children in their schools experience homophobic bullying but they lack the confidence and resources to prevent and respond to it. We also know that lots of gay people have children of their own, or are uncles, aunts, god parents and neighbours to children. Primary schools don’t know how to talk about different families, or acknowledge that they exist. We know this can be hard for children who have same-sex parents, particularly if homophobic bullying is going unchecked.
As we have done with Secondary Schools, we will work with teachers, parents, local authorities and national agencies to support primary schools to talk about and celebrate different families and take steps to prevent homophobic bullying. This will include working with the Department for Education to help them understand why this is a relevant issue for primary schools, as well as the production of teacher training resources and materials to be used in classrooms.
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