Homophobic Language in Secondary Schools

How can Students of a Secondary School Age Change their Attitudes around the use of Homophobic Language and, how can this Language be Improved in a School Setting by Targeted Intervention?

Jessica Perry, The Misbourne School What is the issue?

The use of homophobic language within a school setting and amongst teenagers in general is seemingly on the increase, with adolescents often using terms such as ‘that’s gay’ to describe a plethora of things. Whilst the word ‘gay’ may have numerous meaning; “ask any teenager… ‘that’s so gay’ is said about anything and everything – their clothes, their books, the music or TV shows they like, the sports figures they admire. ‘That’s so gay’ has become a free floating put-down meaning; bad, dumb, stupid or wrong” (Kimmel, M. 2010). The real question is then, how do these phrases effect students and young people who identify as either gay, bisexual or transgender? A recent Stonewall report (2017) found that, “almost half of all LGBT pupils still face bullying at school for being LGBT and more

To establish the underlying issue in which I was dealing with within the school context, I created a questionnaire which was given to all year groups. The results of this was very interesting – with nearly 98% of students admitting to using or hearing the word “gay” on a daily basis towards; onjects, pupils and staff and – statistics showing that around 15% of pupils hearing teachers use the word to either describe people or objects. To tackle the issue of the use of homophobic language within our school, I created and implemented a year 8 Scheme of Work (SOW) to be taught during their Personal Development (PD) lessons. This SOW was titled “What did you say?” and its aim is to try and get students to realise that the words they use in everyday conversation can have a lasting impact on others.

My intervention:

than two in five trans young people have tried to take their own life.” Furthermore, the report found that 52% of LGBT students across Britain’s secondary schools feel that homophobic language such as ‘that’s gay’, ‘faggot’, ‘dyke’ or ‘homo’ had a lasting negative impact on their plans for further education and that, only 10% of homophobic language is often challenged - with students reporting that the use of homophobic language is rarely treated in the same way as racist or sexist language.

There have been numerous interventions to target the use

Lesson 1: The first lesson in the SOW focused on the

of homophobic language throughout secondary schools in

difference between hate speech and freedom of speech –

the UK, some of which have been successful. These

looking at specific case studies such as; ‘The Westboro

interventions range from; applying home-school

Baptist Church’ and their use of language towards the LGBT

agreements, whole school assemblies, targeted

community and then the arguably more ‘trivial’ “Mean

interventions, displays, anonymous ways to report bullying

Girls” film!

e.g. texting, and, addressing homophobic language and

Lesson 2: This lesson focused on whether or not the

bullying in areas of the curriculum in subjects such as PSHE

language that students were using on a daily basis could be

and Philosophy and Ethics.

considered hate speech. All lessons used emotive and engaging material to really get the students to buy into the lesson content.

Lesson 3: This lesson focused on how the ‘everyday’

Has my intervention had any impact..?

language that we use could have a lasting impact on their lives (the difference between homophobic language and

Overall, the SOW has had a measurable impact and has

bullying). This lesson focused on the case studies of Jack

been received well. Students have engaged with the

Maynard - kicked out of the show ‘im a celebrity get me out

content and really enjoyed their lessons. In addition, the

of here’ for historic ‘tweets’ using homophobic language

SOW has been effective as it has decreased the daily use of

and, Paris Brown – the first youth police and crime

homophobic language within year 8 and shown that

commissioner who was forced to resign after history tweets

students are much more aware of the language that they

using homophobic language. From teacher feedback, this

are using on a day to day basis and, its potential impact. In

lesson had a huge impact on students!

addition, feedback from teachers has included the fact that the teachers (from a variety of subject areas from MFL to

Lesson 4: This lesson focused on the very real prospect of

Business Studies) really enjoyed delivering its content, even

the serious affects that the use of homophobic language

though some of the content was challenging at points.

and bullying can have on people’s lives - with a focus on

From looking at the reflections that students have given at

suicide.

the end of the SOW in comparison to the start of the SOW has also been interesting. Before the SOW was rolled out, nearly 98% of students admitting to using or hearing the word “gay” on a daily basis towards both pupils and staff where as now, 83% of students admit to using or hearing the word ‘gay’ on a daily basis. In addition, before the SOW was rolled out, 91% of students believed that using the phrase ‘that’s gay’ to describe people or objects was not very offensive whereas now, a vast majority of students are aware that the phrase ‘that’s gay’ can be offensive.

Finally, as this SOW has had an impact, no matter how

Lesson 5 and 6: These were computer based lessons which allowed students to watch the documentary ‘FIT’ – produced by the UK’s leading authority on the use and abuse of homophobic language. This resource has specifically been created to help tackle homophobic bullying and language in UK secondary schools. FIT follows the life of 5 teenagers and how they change their perceptions about the daily language. This documentary is Stonewalls’ bestselling resource to help teachers deal with the issues of homophobic language and bullying.

Lesson 7: This was the final lesson and was based around reflection of all content covered. Students were, once again, asked to complete a questionnaire around the views and use of homophobic language to see if, and how their views had changed.

small, it is now to be a permanent SOW that will be delivered throughout PD lessons from now on.