Research commentary: teaching about sex, sexual orientation and gender reassignment

Chris Jones, Ofsted’s Director, Corporate Strategy, discusses research on teaching about the protected characteristics of sex, sexual orientation and gender reassignment in England’s schools. The Equality Act 2010 was the culmination of a decade-long uplift in equality legislation. The uplift began in 2001 with changes to race discrimination law following the recommendations of the Macpherson report. It continued through into disability discrimination law in 2006 and gender discrimination in 2007. The 2010 Act consolidated these and also brought in other …

Sex and Relationships Education

People often only hear the word sex and they need to remember that education is about relationships too. Love and relationships one of the most important things in our lives and it is crucial to our health and wellbeing to be surrounded by people we love and about whom we care. Many people are in unfulfilling, dysfunctional and even abusive relationships and one can’t help wondering if the paucity and poor quality of SRE up till now is largely responsible.
In the light of this, we at Schools OUT UK welcome the overdue review of Sex and Relationships Education and the commitment to making it mandatory in schools and inclusive of LGBT+ people. We also welcome the public consultation announced on Wednesday. We very much hope to be a part of the consultation. Our position is set out below.

New Schools Guide for LGBT+ Parents

The first resource of its kind, Inclusion Matters provides background on English state and independent schools’ statutory obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and explains how these schools are formally assessed on diversity by Ofsted and the Independent Schools Inspectorate. The guide shows how case law supports parents and carers having a voice in shaping a school’s commitment to diversity.

Sexing the Past: ‘What is and how to do LGBT history’

We are proud to be part of Outing the Past: The National Festival of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans history. This year we will explore themes and concepts relating to the Sexual Offences Act of 1967, 50 years old in 2017.

Teacher Daniel Gray: The day I told students I was gay

Secondary school teacher Daniel Gray has always kept his sexuality to himself at work. But to mark LGBT History Month, the 32-year-old from Brighton made the nerve-wracking decision to come out to more than 1,000 students. He tells his story to the BBC’s Jennifer Scott.

Jeremy Corbyn pledges to put gay history in the school curriculum

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to put LGBT history on the school curriculum and protect gay bars from property developers, as he launches his LGBT manifesto. Mr Corbyn is re-running for the party leadership amid a challenge from MP Owen Smith, and is expected to win a large majority. The leader today launched his LGBT+ Manifesto, which includes a number of radical pledges on equality. In addition to making inclusive Sex and Relationship Education compulsory in schools, Mr Corbyn says he …

Half of teachers ‘didn’t read’ government guidance on LGBT-inclusive education

(from Pink News) A report from the Time for Inclusive Education campaign has exposed the devastating impact of homophobic bullying. As pressure mounts for LGBT issues to be taught in all Scottish schools. the TIE campaign this week launched a report highlighting high rates of bullying, attempted suicide, self-harm and mental health issues among LGBT young people.   Of the 169 LGBT pupils and former pupils that took part in the survey, two-thirds said they felt homophobia was a problem at their school. 90 per cent …