Nearly 60% of Scotland’s secondary schools support inclusivity scheme
“With nearly two-thirds of secondary schools participating, this represents a significant commitment from Scottish educators to LGBT inclusion,” LGBT Youth Scotland said.
Nearly 60% of secondary schools in Scotland have adopted a scheme to support LGBTQ+ inclusivity.
Devised by LGBT Youth Scotland, the charter is set out to support both staff and pupils.
Herald Scotland reported 212 secondary schools, 40 primary schools and 21 colleges/universities were enrolled or are working towards charter status.
Additionally, this includes 31 out of 34 secondary schools in Edinburgh and 31 of 38 in Glasgow.
The LGBT charter is a programme that enables schools “to proactively include LGBTQ+ people in every aspect of your work.”
This includes: “protecting your staff and providing a high quality service to your customers, students or service users.”
The charity has outlined that while they’re optimistic so many schools have joined, they hope to reach 75% of secondary schools in the coming year.
Ali Kerr, head of partnerships at LGBT Youth Scotland, shared: “These are formative years for young people and it’s vital that LGBTQ+ individuals are supported and that non-LGBTQ+ people feel equipped and inspired to champion inclusivity at every turn.”
Kerr went on to state that the high proportion joining the charter shows schools are playing a “key role” in “creating safe spaces” for LGBTQ+ Scottish youth.
“We’d ideally love all of our secondary and further education providers to achieve charter status.”
“With nearly two-thirds of secondary schools participating, this represents a significant commitment from Scottish educators to LGBT inclusion.”
However, Kerr highlights “the job isn’t done.” “We’d ideally love all of our secondary and further education providers to achieve charter status.”
Scotland’s LGBTQ+ bills have come up against restrictions and have been blocked by the UK government.
In December 2022, Scotland’s Parliament passed the Gender Recognition Reform Scotland bill, which would allow trans people to self-ID.
However, this victory was short-lived as the UK government blocked the legislation in January.
The Scottish government then launched a legal challenge with the aim to enact its gender reforms.