THE group behind a high profile campaign aimed at making Scotland's schools more inclusive says commitments by the First Minister on LGBTI equality do not go far enough.
Nicola Sturgeon pledged to reform gender recognition law to "bring it into line with international best practice," if the SNP returns to power after the May 5 election.
But Time for Inclusive Education campaigners are concerned that there was no commitment to the funding of teacher training to create LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) inclusive education in Scottish schools.
The First Minister's pledge signalled that the law will be changed to recognise people who are neither male nor female, known as "non-binary gender".
It will mean Scotland is set to become one of the first countries in Europe to give legal recognition to people who are neither male nor female.
Scotland was last year rated the best country in Europe in terms of legal equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in the Rainbow Europe Index, compiled by ILGA-Europe, an international human rights association.
But TIE which has launched a campaign aimed at making schools more inclusive, says that while welcoming Ms Sturgeon's moves, they do not go far enough in tackling homophobia in schools.
Ms Sturgeon has accepted more work still needed to be done, and the SNP would look to create "refreshed, age-appropriate strategies and resources" for children to promote tolerance and respect, and prevent prejudice about healthy relationships if it wins the election on May 5.
TIE’s campaigners says that LGBTI-specific teacher training is required, stressing that “the next strategy to tackle homophobia has to be the right one”.
The SNP leader's strategy announcement came just a fortnight after the SNP unanimously passed a motion supporting the TIE campaign, committing to the creation of an education system that is fully inclusive of LGBTI identities and relationships within the next parliament, in order to promote a “safe, equal and accepting environment for all of Scotland’s young people.”
The move came as "gender fluid" teenager, Gaela Hanlon, was given a standing ovation at the SNP's spring conference in Glasgow after making an emotional appeal for more to be done to tackle bullying linked to sexuality.
She told activists: "I can't bear to see any more of our kids at the point of taking their own lives."
Research suggests that one in four LGBTI youths have attempted suicide as a result of homophobic bullying.
A TIE spokesman said: "Her (Ms Sturgeon's) party’s current proposals do not go far enough and it is vital that the next strategy to tackle LGBTI-phobia in Scottish schools is the right one - the next Scottish Government must tackle this properly."
Under the SNP leader's plans, guidance and promoted teachers would undertake training on equality so they could tackle prejudice-based bullying in schools.
But TIE say that the training needs to be LGBTI-specific as general equality training is proven not to be effective enough.
According to Stonewall Scotland only 16% of teachers in Scotland's schools have received training to tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.
The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender support charity said three-quarters of primary school teachers said they were not allowed, or were not sure if they were allowed to teach about LGBTI issues in their classrooms.
The TIE spokesman added:"We have a situation in schools whereby most teachers remain untrained on LGBTI - how to teach LGBTI issues, tackle LGBTI-phobia.
"Specific LGBTI training would give teachers the skillset, knowledge and confidence to directly challenge and tackle LGBTI-phobic behaviours and attitudes in their schools.
"With specific training - it allows for more time to be dedicated to LGBTI within the duration of the training course and/or programme, which is key.
"We are happy to work with the SNP, and all other parties within the next parliament to ensure that our education system is inclusive of LGBT+ identities.”
Support for TIE’s movement for LGBTI inclusive education has continued to grow, with actress Emma Thompson being the latest celebrity to endorse the campaign and call for an end to homophobia in Scottish schools.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel