Abuse by peers and teachers is not uncommon while the curriculum often entrenches negative stereotypes, says Cheryl Potgieter.
Pretoria - Bullying in South African schools is commonplace. Each time I read in the media of another pupil being bullied, or hear anecdotally that a pupil has dropped out of school or changed schools, I wonder why the particular girl or boy has been targeted.
Pupils will often say: “Oh he was bullied because he is a gay.” Derogatory terms are often used. Adults identified as gay or lesbian often talk about how they were bullied and even marginalised by teachers.
The US Schools Climate Survey (2011) that included 8 000 participants found that over 82 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered (LGBT) pupils reported being verbally harassed; 38 percent reported physical harassment and 18 percent reported being physically assaulted.
Furthermore, 85 percent of the pupils heard the term “gay” being used in negative ways, 71 percent had homophobic remarks directed at them frequently. Finally, six in 10 pupils reported feeling unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation.
South Africa has not done as big a study as the US Schools Climate Survey but researchers’ initial findings confirm that schools are not safe places for pupils who are lesbian or gay.
Researchers Deevia Bhana, Thabo Msibi, Cheryl Potgieter, Finn Reygan and Dennis Francis conducted research which clearly shows that pupils who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered or intersexed suffer various forms of harassment at school.
It is not uncommon for pupils to suffer verbal abuse by peers as well as teachers who make homophobic and derogatory remarks. In addition, the curriculum often entrenches negative stereotypes.
Teachers’ attitudes and lack of knowledge, prejudiced curriculum content and hostile peers are factors which contribute to a situation which no doubt impacts on the pupils’ academic and personal well-being.
This lack of tolerance is widespread and not confined to schools. One just has to remember the humiliation that Caster Semenya suffered when she was found to be “intersexed” to realise the views and attitudes which South Africans across class and race hold towards people who do not fit their understanding of a “real” man or woman.
Prejudice and homophobic attitudes do not just remain attitudes. The consequence of these attitudes includes the various forms of abuse which lesbians and gay men in South Africa suffer. Rape and murder are the consequential behaviour of these attitudes and beliefs.
Regarding the situation in schools, one has to decide how to intervene and change the attitudes of teachers and also provide teachers with the skills and knowledge to teach about sexual diversity in the classroom.
Thabo Msibi, Finn Reygan and I received a US grant to develop training material to assist teachers, as well as student teachers, to deal with homophobia in the classroom. We initiated this training research project after discovering that in this country, higher education institutions have not been far-reaching enough in preparing teachers to understand, handle and deal with sexual diversity in their classrooms. We found this alarming because it allowed an environment of homophobic action, whereby teachers themselves are found to be perpetrators, to exist unabated in the classroom.
Homophobic action encompasses hate speech, exclusion, marginalisation and violence against learners who identify as part of the LGBTI community.
Moreover, research in the UK found that more than 70 percent of lesbian and gay youth who had been bullied or abused at school played truant or pretended to be ill to avoid a homophobic school environment. No in-depth research has been done in South Africa, but it would be correct to assume that the gay and lesbian youth who are bullied would display similar behaviour.
This is problematic, worrying and unacceptable because it creates systematic exclusion from the education system for pupils purely because of the gender of their partners or how they identify or are identified by others.
The situation is accompanied by a dearth of training for pre- and in-service teachers on sexual and gender diversity. This lack of training occurs despite a strong focus on transformation, social justice and inclusion in the post-apartheid curriculum. There has been a strong focus on racism and sexism but homophobia has often been ignored as it is seen as a “sensitive” issue that may be contradicting certain religious or cultural beliefs.
Our intervention training research was in the form of interactive workshops to about 800 pre-service and in-service teachers linked to the school of education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
The results were extremely positive. The teachers reported that prior to the training they were often not comfortable talking about issues of “homosexuality” and were often extremely prejudiced. The training debunked myths which many had bought into regarding sexual orientation.
We know that one course should be the beginning of continued education in the area. The post-training evaluations indicated that participants found that the training sessions increased awareness on LGBTI issues, that the sessions were useful for practice in the classroom and that they were also useful for their colleagues’ experience.
Beyond the training, we are busy developing and refining a curriculum that is to be used within our School of Education to equip our students to be better teachers. We will also lobby and advocate for the LGBTI issues to be included in the curriculum of schools and of universities for the training of teachers
On the final day of the training, a participant approached the researchers and said: “They sit with us now.” He, a gay man, was telling us that prior to the training his heterosexual male peers had refused to talk to or sit with those who openly identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered or intersexed. Often they just refused to associate with “those gays”.
This project has trained pre-service and in-service teachers in an attempt to reduce homophobia in schools with the ultimate goal being that schools and society would be spaces where all, irrespective of sexual orientation, would have the freedom to enjoy full citizenship.
* Cheryl Potgieter is project principal investigator professor in psychology and deputy vice-chancellor and head of college of humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Newspapers.
Pretoria News