Striving to improve classroom equality

Within days of announcing the free programmes, which were tailored for primary, secondary and additional support needs teachers, all 120 places were fully booked.

READ MORE: LGBT Campaigners demand change at Holyrood to tackle homophobia in schools

Organisers said they were motivated to organise the programmes as currently the majority of equality training available to teachers must be paid for by their local authority, and at a time when most councils are making cuts to save money, training sessions have been on the back burner.

The campaign is calling for inclusive education to be introduced into the Scottish curriculum, and say it is essential to tackle homophobia and make like better for the thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) teenagers and children struggling every day across the country.

Teachers who spoke to the Sunday Herald said improving knowledge of LGBTI issues is vital to achieving a fully-inclusive education system for young Scots of all genders and sexualities.

Lucy Rangeley, 38, is a Scottish primary school teacher who attended the training scheme.

As a gay teacher, she said not only was the programme useful at finding out more about how to help kids, but to also connect with other LGBTI teachers and those who share the same views on inclusive education.

Rangeley said: “In my school I think I'm seen as the sort of militant lesbian who's obsessed with equality. It was nice to know there are others out there who feel just as strongly as me about it.

“But I know it's not like that everywhere. There are still backwards, narrow-minded teachers and schools in Scotland that think kids don't need to know about LGBT.”

READ MORE: LGBT Campaigners demand change at Holyrood to tackle homophobia in schools

She told of how at a parents' evening a pupil's mother and her female partner came to see her. “The pupil's mum and dad had separated a few years before, I'm not sure if it was because she was gay or for other reasons, but at the parent's night, the mum came in with her partner. She told me she had only come with her partner as she knew I was gay, and knew I felt strongly about equality and she wouldn't be judged. If it had been anyone else, she said she would have just come on her own.

“That is another way stigma affects people – pupils and their parents and relatives. It shouldn't be that gay parents feel they can only come to the school as a couple if they are going to meet an understanding teacher. All teachers should be able to make the parents feel welcome, regardless of their sexuality or gender and it shouldn't even be an issue.

“It's the same with kids – if there is a pupil who has two mums, and you have reading materials and videos which are teaching kids about family, with just a mum and a dad in the story...it's going to make kids feel like there is something wrong with their family or them, when in fact it is completely normal.”

Melissa Burke, 21, from Glasgow, is training to become a secondary teacher and is studying for her qualification at Glasgow university.

She attended the Glasgow training scheme and said she found it invaluable. She said: “The programme was really informative and helped greatly with my knowledge of LGBTI issues and how to talk about them in the classroom.

“Before now, I wasn't sure if it was something which I was allowed to talk about with kids or how I should go about it, but I've learned it is easier than a lot of people think.

“I think the training is essential for all teachers and it should be part of training all teachers receive whether they are just starting or have been doing the job for ages.”

READ MORE: LGBT Campaigners demand change at Holyrood to tackle homophobia in schools

Earlier this year the Scottish Government committed to review initial teacher education programmes by April 2017 and to give teachers more support for equality issues through career-long professional learning, to be in place by August next year.

As exclusively revealed by this newspaper last month, a study by the TIE campaign showed that the majority of teachers in Scotland hadn't ever heard of or used the government's relationships, sexual health and parenthood guidance, which Education Secretary John Swinney has said is part of the solution to improving training and awareness.

The study also found that 27 per cent of LGBTI kids had attempted suicide, with 15 per cent trying to take their own lives more than once.

TIE is calling for a new nationwide approach to LGBTI education. A spokesman said: “While the Scottish Government has committed to working with us and to train all teachers, we are yet to receive assurance as to how this will be implemented and how they will ensure that all schools take part.

“We are calling for the creation of a new, cost-free national teacher training programme and for legislation in the lifetime of this parliament which enshrines LGBTI education as a requirement for all schools."

READ MORE: LGBT Campaigners demand change at Holyrood to tackle homophobia in schools

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Scotland does not have a statutory curriculum, however, relationships, sexual health and parenthood education is an integral part of the health and wellbeing area of the curriculum in Scotland and this includes issues relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex young people or children with LGBTI parents.”