Schools OUT and LGBT History month Co-Chair Sue Sanders talks about how teachers can help make LGBT people visible in education.

The 'gay lesson'

The infamous 'gay lesson', often left to PSHE teachers or outside professionals every academic year, became synonymous with the view that knowledge of LGBT lives and culture were pretty much irrelevant to children's lives. That helped shape a school culture where being 'gay' was simply an embarrassing affectation that would be dealt with during adulthood, and alone. For some teachers who lacked the training, resources or senior leadership support, homosexuality was the topic that 'dare not end in Q & A'.

Trans issues were rarely covered, if at all. There was no celebration of LGBT culture, no awareness of LGBT history and no concept of how lesbians and gays could be anything but the 'other' in life. In order for LGBT experience to be represented, the idea of the annual 'gay lesson' had to go.

A new approach

As more evidence came to light on the prevalence and harm of homophobic bullying, educators realised that a new approach was needed. To combat the prejudice, schools needed higher quality and more consistent methods of tackling the subject. In 2003, two changes to the law caused substantial shifts in how schools achieved this. The repeal of Section 28 gave teachers the room to explore the issues (though many good teachers had been for years) and the introduction of the Sexual Orientations Regulations in 2003 reinforced to public bodies, such as schools, that homophobia was the same as racism, sexism or any other form of discrimination in the workplace. Many proactive headteachers acted on new official Government guidance on the subject and teachers wishing to do the work could discuss it with more authority. However, much of the work was in PSHE and Citizenship lessons only and presented LGBT materials which concentrated on prejudice and discrimination.

LGBT History Month

The arrival of Schools OUT's seminal project, LGBT History Month in 2004, with its focus on celebration and recognition of LGBT culture; past and present, gave educators greater scope to talk about the bigger picture of LGBT experience, in which LGBT people were the agents of change rather than just victims of prejudice. Most importantly for schools, LGBT History Month created and inspired several teaching packs and toolkits that covered lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity across the curriculum. This afforded access to and relevance in a wider variety of subjects. Every subject and every teacher now mattered. Homophobic/transphobic language and bullying, after all, could occur across the school, in any lesson. The phrase 'whole school approach' became crucial in school policies that now specifically mentioned sexual orientation.

Now that there was evidence of need and scope to deliver school-wide, LGBT subjects still retained the sense of 'other'. It seemed interesting that though LGBT lives seemed so 'alternative' to students, homophobia/transphobia was still so mainstream to them.

It was time to fine tune the learning for pupils. We had to go back to the curriculum and it had to start early.

'Usualising'

How could teachers instil in their pupils an acceptance of LGBT experience as everyday?

Usualising in schools has more to do with familiarising learners with a subject's everyday occurrence or existence rather than an in-depth understanding of the subject.

Learners should consistently be made aware of the presence of LGBT people. LGBT people are integral to our learner's lives. They exist in all times and all places. They exist in the here and now; essential to the UK society and culture. Schools rightly do not only use white, Christian references in their curriculum, but a range of resources/artefacts/case studies of people across race and religion. Teachers should try to use materials that span a diversity of sexual orientation. In the context of the Classroom 'usualising' occurs when a teacher references Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual sexual orientation without inviting further comment.

Usualising LGBT lives means that learners are made aware of the diversity of LGBT people, that they are found in every culture, near and far, and that they share many characteristics with people who are heterosexual. It is also about acknowledging the differences between LGBT individuals themselves, that they do not all conform to the same behaviours/appearance.

To the teacher who commits to the process, it is a method of teaching that does not require in-depth knowledge of the subject. Diverse sexual orientations are not open for analysis; the teacher simply has to refer to their existence.

'Actualising'

Actualising is the natural successor to 'usualising'. This more in-depth teaching is the second method we employ. Once pupils are habituated to something (LGBT life) they can study it without distraction. Actualising describes and disseminates subjects that usualising has made an acceptable part of reality.

Actualising means presenting the subject in a fuller aspect. It should include the positives and negatives as well. We are not making value judgements, nor are we encouraging bias in favour of LGBT life by only representing positive images of LGBT people.

Example: A Key Stage Two PSHE lesson covering different types of relationships, including those within families and between older and young people, boys and girls and people of the same sex, including civil partnerships. The inclusion of LGBT people is not simply referential because the teacher wants the class to consider the validity of civil partnerships in comparison to marriage. The objective (for pupils to explain why it is sometimes harder for LGBT people to be open about their relationship) requires discussion and examination of LGBT relationships. In doing so, LGBT lives are made concrete.

Click on the links for more examples on how to use the'usualising' and 'actualising' methods.

For more information on the Schools OUT conference, click here.

Remember, February is LGBT history month, celebrating the lives and achievements of the LGBT community.

To mark this month, we want to hear from you. Are you are an LGBT teacher? Tell us your experiences, positive or negative of being out, or not out at school. Do you have any advice for colleagues or has your school had success in changing attitudes of pupils, parents and staff? You can be as anonymous or as public as you wish.

To get involved, click here .