Best Practice

How do you support the LGBT+ staff in your school?

How many of your school’s staff are LGBT? Half of LGBT+ people are not out in their workplaces. Expert Adele Bates looks at why this is and the barriers LGBT+ people often face in schools

People are happier, perform better and are more innovative when they can be themselves, and yet half of LGBT+ people are not out in the workplace and more than a quarter of bisexual people are out to no-one.

YouGov polls show that 2.4 million people witnessed verbal homophobic bullying at work, and a further 800,000 people of working age witnessed physical homophobic bullying at work. Perhaps this is part of the reason.

A person linked to the LGBT+ community on a CV, for example by mentioning past voluntary work with an LGBT+ organisation, is less likely to be invited to interview, according to a study by Anglia Ruskin University. So before a potential LGBT+ member of staff walks through the school gates they are either already, or will perceive themselves to be, on the back foot.

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