Learning about LGBT issues in primary schools

Many adults find it difficult to talk to children about sex and relationships, but if children are to be respectful of diversity – including LGBT matters – these conversations are vital.
 
‘Learning about LGBT issues, as well as other types of diversity, has the power to transform all young people’s lives,’ says Sidonie Bertrand-Shelton, education and youth lead at Stonewall. ‘Teaching all children to be accepting of each other gives a sense of belonging to any child who feels a little bit different, and helps them to know it’s okay to be themselves.’

Prior to 2020, there was no obligation for primary schools to provide any form of sex and/or relationships education, let alone specific LGBT teaching. In fact, Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 explicitly forbade schools from the ‘promotion of homosexuality’, and although it was revoked in 2003, many schools continued to shy away from LGBT matters.
 
Since September 2020, however, relationships education has been compulsory in primary schools, and while there’s no statutory obligation for them to cover LGBT issues, government guidance makes it clear that they shouldn’t be overlooked. It states:
 
‘Schools should ensure that all of their teaching is sensitive and age appropriate in approach and content. At the point at which schools consider it appropriate to teach their pupils about LGBT, they should ensure that this content is fully integrated into their programmes of study for this area of the curriculum rather than delivered as a standalone unit or lesson. Schools are free to determine how they do this, and we expect all pupils to have been taught LGBT content at a timely point as part of this area of the curriculum.’
 
Although this doesn’t oblige primary schools to include LGBT issues in its relationships education curriculum, it does set out specific points that pupils should learn about by the end of primary school, including:

• That others’ families, either within the school or the wider world, may look different from their own family, but that they should respect those differences and know that other children’s families are also characterised by love and care.
• That stable, caring relationships, which may be of different types, are at the heart of happy families.
• That marriage is a formal and legally recognised commitment between two people that’s intended to be lifelong.
• The importance of respecting others, even when they’re different from them. 

Stonewall says these goals are a welcome step in the right direction. ‘Teaching children about LGBT relationships doesn’t just benefit those who identify as LGBT themselves, or have LGBT parents; it helps all children understand and respect differences as part of the human experience,’ Sidonie says.
 
‘Even if the school community doesn’t include any LGBT families, children will encounter LGBT people at some point in the future, so it’s important that education and awareness is embedded throughout school life.’

Because there’s no set curriculum for relationships education, schools have the freedom to devise their own programmes of study. Some will explore LGBT issues mainly as part of PSHE (personal, social, health and economic education), while others try to embed them throughout the curriculum (the Department for Education's preferred approach).
 
Some of the ways in which Stonewall’s example curriculum suggests primary schools might teach children about LGBT identities and relationships include:

• Reading books that include different types of family. These books could be used as prompts for pupils’ own story writing.
• Normalising LGBT families by using them as examples in, for instance, maths problems: ‘Mark’s dads increase his pocket money by 10%. If Mark had £2 before the increase, how much pocket money does he have now?’
• Creating wall displays on the theme of celebrating difference, and inviting parents to contribute to the displays or come into school to look at them.
• Looking at diverse role models, including LGBT role models. For instance, in a topic about sporting heroes, pupils could learn about LGBT, BAME and disabled Olympians and create a presentation or fact file about them.
• In RE, comparing different weddings from across different religions, including non-religious and same-sex weddings, and creating an order of service for a wedding.
• In music, creating music or a rap inspired by LGBT artists like Queen, the Pet Shop Boys or Janelle Monae.
• In geography, using maps to plan a Pride parade around the local area.
• In design technology (DT), making a class quilt with the theme of celebrating diversity, with each child contributing a square.
• Discussing the rainbow flag and the meaning of its colours.
• Teaching children that ‘they’, ‘them’ and ‘their’ can be plural as well as singular, and explaining why some people choose to use the pronoun ‘they.’
• Challenging gender stereotypes with classroom resources, for instance using images that reflect different identities and types of relationship, including LGBT.
• Holding events to raise awareness, such as a rainbow-themed cake sale. 

It’s important to note that LGBT teaching can and should form part of teaching about diversity on a wider scale, including learning about disabilities, ethnicities, and faiths. This can be linked with school values like kindness, respect and trust.
 
Schools can also do practical things to make school life more inclusive, for example having a gender-neutral uniform policy, not separating girls and boys for sports, and avoiding gendered language, like ‘good girl/boy.’

All schools have a duty to address bullying, including homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and gender related bullying. Ideally, this should be specifically addressed in the school’s anti-bullying policy, which must be available to parents (usually on its website).
 
A particular issue is the use of homophobic slurs in the school environment, for example, pupils referring to a boy who doesn’t like sport as ‘gay’.
 
‘It’s essential that this language is addressed, and that there are really clear boundaries,’ says Sidonie. ‘Was the child just repeating the word because they heard someone else saying it? Do they understand its real meaning? It’s important to unpick what’s going on, for example by explaining it in simple terms: “gay is when a man loves another man.”’
 
If your child is being bullied for LGBT reasons, your first step is to raise it with their teacher or head teacher. Usually, schools are very good at tackling the problem, but if bullying persists, you can take your complaint further.

No one is obliged to tell their child’s school about their sexuality, gender identity or relationship, but you might want to consider making them aware of your family set-up.
 
‘A lot of primary schools take pride in knowing their families very well, so telling your child’s school who you are and what your family looks like can be a positive thing,’ says Sidonie.
 
It can help schools to be inclusive – for example by making sure your child isn’t left out when making Mother’s Day cards if they have two dads – and also be alert to any friction, unkindness or bullying.
 
Being open can help to normalise LGBT relationships in the school community, too. ‘I brought books into school that explained our family, and the teacher was happy to read them to the class,’ says Bernadette. ‘Because the kids were so young, they grew up with an understanding of my children’s family, so it wasn’t a big deal.’

With relationships education compulsory in primary schools (unlike sex education), you don’t have the right to withdraw your child from these lessons. But the inclusion of LGBT matters has raised concern amongst some parents.
 
If you have worries about the curriculum, the school’s relationships education policy is good starting point for finding out how LGBT awareness is taught. It’s also good practice (but not compulsory) for schools to involve parents in how LGBT issues are covered: some, for example, invite parents in to view the resources used. Otherwise, you can ask your child’s teacher for an overview.
 
It’s important to be aware that the aim of relationships education is to acknowledge diversity and encourage inclusivity. ‘If you unpick what’s being taught, you’ll most likely find it’s much less scary than you expected,’ Sidonie says.