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Gay news: Less than half of the region's teachers have the confidence to challenge homophobia
Almost one third hear homophobic language daily
Homophobia 'endemic' in Merseyside schools
Homophobic bullying is "endemic" in Merseyside's secondary schools, new research by the National Union of Teachers has found.
Among the 740 staff members of North West schools questioned, almost one-third of Wirral, Liverpool and Warrington teachers reported hearing pupils using homophobic language on a daily basis.
15% of the Merseyside teachers witnessed daily abuse of pupils because of their sexual orientation and 3% said they themselves were targeted for the same reason.
Almost 70% agreed homophobia must not be allowed to go unchallenged but less than half felt confident enough to tackle a pupil on the subject.
The detailed findings for the three areas will be released in May and Jeff Evans, the NUT's North West LGBT advisor, told the Liverpool Daily Post that they will contradict Liverpool council's annual anti-bullying audit of five to 19-year-olds, which reported a fall in the number of pupils being bullied because of their sexuality.
He said: "The results will show that like the North West, in Liverpool, Wirral and Warrington homophobia is endemic in schools. To suggest the problem is actually falling when every piece of evidence we have suggests the opposite is ill-founded."
Referring to the murder of gay teenager Michael Causer in the Liverpool district of Huyton two years ago and the homophobic city-centre attack on PC James Parkes last October, Evans added:
"Teachers by definition address ignorance and are crying out to be given the tools to tackle this issue. If you don't address the fear it festers in the tragic way it has been seen on the streets of your city."
