“I was 14 and just out of the closet when I got into an awkward situation at school,” Justin says. “There was a commotion when it became known that I had fallen in love with my best friend, which in itself is very bad. To calm the situation, I had to meet with a teacher at the same time as my best friend. Her intentions were good, but it was very uncomfortable. It’s one of the examples of misunderstanding I encountered during my high school days.”
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In the third Justin was once made fun of by a teacher. He impersonated him for the class in the aftermath of an argument with a fellow student. And on Purple Friday, a day when students and teachers show their solidarity with the LGBTI+ community, Justin was taunted by a teacher for his makeup use.
“It really doesn’t look like it,” he said as he walked past. Let him talk, said a teacher who heard it. I was stunned,” Justin says. “I’m all for freedom of expression, but teachers should provide a safe environment for their students.”
ignorance
“Fortunately, I can easily get rid of it,” says Justin, who obtained his pre-university diploma last summer. “I don’t see it as hate, but as ignorance. I don’t take it personally and luckily I never had to deal with serious bullying. I was in a public high school: diversity was in the DNA of the school. took action against LGBTI+ bullying, but it still happened.”
The study by Utrecht University and the University of Groningen into bullying of LGBTI+ young people by teachers and other school staff is the first study with nationally representative data, says researcher Tessa Kaufman. LGBTI+ young people say they are almost twice as likely to be victims of bullying by school staff. The findings were recently published in the journal Journal of Adolescent Health.
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Nearly 30,000 young people took part in the study by Kaufman and her Groningen colleague Laura Baams, spread over 136 secondary schools in the Netherlands. “We find that LGBTI+ young people are more often bullied by teachers or other school staff. This bullying happened more often in locations where there is little supervision. Think of changing rooms, toilets, the bicycle cellar, the parking lot and online,” says Kaufman.
Good example
“Sad and shocking”, gay interest association COC calls the results. “It’s not that the study completely surprises us, but it’s bizarre to see teachers participating in bullying. It is they who should lead by example. We know that LGBTI+ young people feel safer in schools where teachers support them. teachers indicate that ‘there is no insulting about being gay here’, that helps, for example.”
According to Kaufman, schools can do even more to prevent bullying. “For example, to keep a closer eye on the experiences of LGBTI+ young people. In this way schools can provide clearer information. Preferably at the beginning of the school year, so that everyone knows where you can report experiences with bullying safely and possibly anonymously. hopefully the school will be a safe school for everyone,” said Kaufman.
The Week against Bullying starts on September 27.
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