Delegates at the National Union of Teachers’ (NUT) conference warned that failure to act against homophobia could send out the wrong message to lesbian and gay pupils.

The Independent reports that teachers are particularly concerned that the number of “free” schools, several run by religious organisations, set to open in September could exacerbate the problem. They cite the fact that the Catholic Church has openly criticised the nationally agreed code of conduct which requires schools to “proactively challenge discrimination”.

A union executive, Dave Brinson, told the conference, “Discrimination, intolerance and bigotry have not gone away. They’re still there and they still need to be challenged.” However, it was also pointed out that there were schools that combated prejudice successfully and the problem of homophobia was present in both faith and secular institutions.

A survey showed that 40% of teachers had heard pupils use homophobic words on a daily basis. Less than half of the teachers surveyed believed that their schools were effective in combating homophobia. Deborah Gwynne, from Lancashire, argued that homophobic language in any situation should be challenged, no matter how innocent it is: “People are using the word ‘gay’ and they are meaning boring, stupid or rubbish. How are you going to feel if people are using that word on a daily basis to mean something like that? We all have to challenge the use of the word ‘gay’ in this context.”

The School Health Unit for Stonewall conducted a survey which showed that almost two-thirds of gay and lesbian pupils had suffered homophobic bullying at school. Of those, 41% had been physically attacked and 17% had received death threats. Half had missed school due to the bullying.

The chief executive of the Catholic Board of Education, Dr Oonagh Stannard, said the code of conduct had been followed, pointing out that any form of pupils bullying each other was unacceptable. She added, “Catholic schools have been noted for their low incidence of bullying.”

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