European Trade Union Committee for Education

NASUWT, NEU, EiS and UCU, ETUCE member organisations in the UK have recently organised respective actions to demand for safe, secure and healthy workplaces for LGBTI teachers in the UK and LGBTI equality.

The NASUWT LGBTI Conference, held on 26th June 2018, called for urgent action to secure equality for LGBTI teachers in schools and colleges, including action to:

• challenge bullying, harassment and discrimination in schools and colleges;
• secure compulsory LGBTI equality training for all staff in schools and colleges;
• campaign for greater accountability of employers to ensure a safe working environment for LGBTI teachers;
• and campaign for greater accountability of employers to exercise their duty of care for the wellbeing of LGBTI teachers.

On their side, NEU, during their LGBT+ teachers conference in April 2017, - which counted with a number of thematic workshops such as “Tackling Homophobic, Biphobic and Transphobic language in school” “Advancing LGBT+ Equality at Work”, - agreed on the motion to go to NUT Annual Conference 2018 focused on “UNITING THE FIGHT FOR LGBT+ LIBERATION WITH THE FIGHT AGAINST ISLAMPHOBIA” embracing intersectionality and linking successful LGBT+ initiatives with the Muslim community. The motion also condemns the situation of LGBTI people in prison camps in Chechnya in Russia.

Following the UCU LGBT+ monitoring leaflet and the UCU's LGBT history month 2017 booklet which contains information which is useful in ongoing work around sexual orientation and gender identity equality, UCU will have a group marching at London Pride in July 2018. In addition, UCU will be organizing the LGBT members' conference on 1 December 2018. Last year, UCU LGBT conference counted with the speaking participation of ETUCE Standing Committee for Equality expert, Dorota Obidniak from Poland.

In the end, EiS, the Educational Institute of Scotland, has recently published the results of a small scale project to better understand the experiences of LGBT+ people in further and higher education (Study on LGBT learners in post 16 Education). EiS also has a LGBTI+ network which provides LGBT support and advice to their affiliates.

ETUCE underlines the importance to achieve full equality for LGBTI teachers, in particular, through the promotion of safe, secure and healthy school environments.

ETUCE, in the framework of the EU CONVINCE project, addresses in a specific section of the initiative on how to teach sensitive topics in schools with a sense of respect and equality including LGBTI rights.

To read the ETUCE-ETUC-ILGA joint statement on the prevention and combat of homophobic and transphobic in schools and in the workplace, click here.