Working with the needs of LGBTQ+ young people to develop school-based programmes

LGBTQ+ young people report significantly higher levels of mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Schools form a large part of young people’s lives, meaning that their experiences and relationships here are influential for their mental health.

Teachers and staff are central to supporting LGBTQ+ young people but there is little professional development in this area, and it often comprises of a one-off training session.

The Schools Training to Enhance support for LGBT+ young People Study (STEPS) aimed to provide insight to help develop meaningful school-based programmes for teachers and staff and it has now published two papers. The first outlines the need to take a whole school approach to training and the second focuses on experiences of young LGBTQ+ people who belong to several minoritised groups.

Whole school, intersectional approach

In STEPS’ first research paper published in PLOS One, it identified a range of themes to consider when developing professional development programmes for staff to improve the sense of belonging and connection, safety and wellness, and environment at schools.

Known as the school climate, this cluster of qualities is central to young people’s mental health, academic performance and school attendance and should be inclusive and help support young people to thrive.

The study conducted online interviews and focus groups with 63 participants (22 staff, 32 students (aged 13 to 15 years) and nine training providers) who were diverse in relation to gender and sexual identity, ethnicity, religious and social context.

The study identified the need for ‘a whole school, intersectional approach which shifts the narrative’ to support the mental health of LGBTQ+ young people. This highlights that school structures require fundamental changes beyond staff training alone that works across the whole school from curricula, school ethos, collaboration with staff and students and community partnerships.

Feeling safe, seen and celebrated: Embedding intersectional signs, signals and symbols

Many of those interviewed as part of the study commented that the school environment and curriculum reflected cis-genderism and heteronormativity which impacted the sense of belonging for those with differing experiences.

Schools often try to counterbalance this through increased use of LGBTQ+ posters, flags, lanyards, gender neutral facilities alongside gender neutral language and visibility of LGBTQ+ identifies in curricular etc.

However, the level to which this is done varies and there is often little diversity of identity representation among staff to help support these initiatives and actions. In addition, they often do not work across intersectionalities; for example, for those LGBTQI+ students from racialised backgrounds.

Focus on intersectionality

There is limited research on school experiences of LGBTQ+ young people who belong to different groups. In order to give deeper consideration to issues around intersectionality the second study focussed on experiences of young people and showed that racialised and ethnic minority LBGTQ+ school students experience a number of stressors linked to these minority groups.

The study found there was a need to put the young person and their lived reality first, and adopt intersectional approaches and inclusive practices. If training is to acknowledge and meet the needs of the diversity amongst LGBTQ+ young people then it should not be a ‘one-size-fits-all' programme. Instead content should depend on the geographical, social, community and cultural context of the school.

Alongside this need for adaptability it was felt by some interviewees that schools should be more proactive in their action to ensure that every child can make the choice to be part of these school-based programmes. Views differed on the level of action required from schools and how best to strike the balance whilst not seeming like enforcement.

The experience of intersectionality can bring with it conflicting beliefs about sexuality and gender, and the research highlighted that responsibility for bridging these disagreements should be two-way and from both social groups. For example, many staff members felt that there is a lack of staff literacy on religious perspectives on sexual and gender orientation and this constrains dialogue:

“I am really out of my depth when kids start quoting the Quran at me. I'm just like I don't know, I don't have a good answer. I don't know and I always kind of fall back on my, ‘well look if God is love and God made everybody, then we should just love everybody’ you know.” —school staff member, female, heterosexual, White

Particularly in the case of religious beliefs and culture, there is a need to move beyond viewing the situation as a zero-sum game and to try to find a way where people can belong to different groups and not have to sacrifice any part of their identity.

Everyone’s business: And the need for collaborative working

There is recognition that everyone who is connected to the school has a role in creating a supportive environment. Engaging with students, parents and communities must go alongside any training and extend beyond the school gates. The interviews and focus groups showed that the goal of any training was not necessarily to change views but to enhance transparency to try and prevent mistrust and misunderstanding.

Most recognise the value of external training providers and spaces to share best practices and to build trusting and collaborative relationships. It was also felt that content for training and events should be co-designed with LGBTQ+ young people to ensure perspective, experience and voices are included and valued in school initiatives.

Embedding a culture of change

The research highlighted the importance of long-term, consistent actions, for example sustained awareness is important rather than just Pride month or one-off-training to tick the box; and embedding LGBTQ+ identities across all lessons and not just when discussing LGBTQ+ issues as a standalone topic. #

This helps avoid tokenism and inauthentic actions. Many said that meaningful change also depends upon fundamental shifts beyond interpersonal behaviours.

“What it isn’t, is doing blanket LGBT awareness training, ticking the box and moving on. From our perspective, it’s about you know how do we actually, you know, it’s about that structure of pastoral care, the ethos of the school community, your policies and your curriculum, is I think that the most effective way of actually embedding a culture of change.”—Training provider

Re-locating the problem: Challenging deficit thinking

Participants spoke about the need to challenge thinking that tends to position marginalised groups as lacking or in need of ‘fixing’ and in its place relocate the problem with cis and heteronormativity. There still exists prejudice and wrong assumptions, such as viewing a young person coming out as a safeguarding issue which requires them to break confidentiality with family members.

Deficit thinking can be based in limited understanding and perception that trans people need special accommodation, and there is a need to address this lack of understanding and reflect the ‘problem’ back to those who perceived it as such.

Looking to the future and shifting the narrative

The studies have highlighted the clear need to fundamentally ‘shift the narrative’, away from deficit thinking within schools and move towards challenging existing societal structures and assumptions.

Those who contributed to the study also noted that there is a risk of inequities being widened, particularly for LGBTQ+ young people who belong to minoritised groups. This is because of the capacity to put in place the practices that are needed to support this shift depend on wealth of the individual school, parental pressures and socio-cultural context.

As such there is a need for further research on how best to establish approaches to collaboration with a diverse range of parents, carers and communities to ensure strategies and school-based programmes are based on research insights and adopted inclusively.

This study was supported by the Transdisciplinary Research for the Improvement of Youth Mental Public Health (TRIUMPH) Network and the ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health at King’s College London.