School & Safety: Recognizing the situation of LGBTQI+ students

First of all, School & Safety recognizes the picture presented of the social situation of LGBTQI+ students at school. School & Safety considers it important that the researchers looked not only at attitudes towards gender and sexual diversity, but also at actual behavior. What people say and what they do do not always correspond.

The ‘LGBT Monitor 2022’ identifies a number of important facts about the current situation of LGBTQI+ students:

  • Coming out at school is still difficult. A minority of students in secondary education indicate that young people at their school can be open about their sexual orientation.
  • LGBTQI+ students are at greater risk of being bullied and becoming victims of a violent incident than students who are presumed to be heterosexual.
  • While the overall sense of safety among secondary-school students remained the same between 2018 and 2021, the sense of safety among LGBT students deteriorated. In 2021, LGBT students were intentionally harassed by others more often than in 2018. Lesbian, gay and bisexual students were bullied twice as often as heterosexual students (aged 12–16).
  • Students are least often tolerant towards transgender girls (born in a male body) and transgender boys (born in a female body), followed by gay boys and lesbian girls.

Practising respectful behavior, also in the context of citizenship education

The researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Social Research view ‘school’ as an important place in young people’s lives and the best place to practise respectful behavior. School & Safety endorses this view. Establishing behavioral agreements and practising them are effective elements in creating a socially safe school climate.

From the perspective of citizenship education as well, school is one of the most important places to learn about—and practise—respectful behavior. Since the new citizenship education law came into effect (August 2021), schools have been more explicitly asked to ensure the safety and acceptance of LGBTQI+ students in the classroom and at school. Read more about this.

Learning to deal with differences is important for social cohesion. This applies not only to differences in gender and sexual orientation, but also, for example, to differences in religion and culture. The researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Social Research recommend teaching children to deal with differences from as early an age as possible.

Practising behavior—letting students practise

At first, teachers often find it difficult to let pupils and students practise this kind of ‘respectful behavior’ when it concerns, for example, homosexuality, religion, politics or discrimination. These themes can sometimes be sensitive or lead to heated debate.

That is why School & Safety supports schools, teachers and trainee teachers in addressing these kinds of conversations. School & Safety does so in various ways.

  • First of all, there is always the help desk for questions about these kinds of conversations and topics.
  • For secondary and vocational education, School & Safety has developed the Dialogue under Pressure training, which gives teachers practical tools for overcoming uncertainty about how to act during these kinds of discussions. The impact of this training was evaluated positively in research by Movisie.
  • To support Christian Orthodox schools in making room for gender and sexual diversity in a way that is consistent with their vision and mission, School & Safety also offers tailored team training.
  • Through the Citizenship Education Expertise Centre, we support schools, together with other organizations, in shaping their citizenship education responsibilities. In doing so, schools work towards properly embedding the creation of space for gender and sexual diversity. For primary education, School & Safety has compiled a primary education toolkit. The VO-raad has developed a secondary education toolkit for this purpose.
  • The monitor highlights the importance of training student teachers at teacher-training colleges and teacher education programs in these conversations. Together with Rutgers, School & Safety supports these programs in familiarizing their students with creating a socially safe climate regarding relationships and sexuality. On 7 October 2022, we are organizing the professional conference How do you do that? for teacher educators, where, among other things, a new e-learning course for students will be presented.
  • On the Gendi.nl thematic website, School & Safety offers many additional materials, tips and inspiration for working continuously on respect for gender and sexual diversity in primary, secondary and vocational education.