Data highlights Birmingham primary schools in suspensions and exclusions for homophobia and transphobia

Data issued by the Department of Education has revealed that homophobic and transphobic behaviour in state primary schools has increased, and Birmingham is second on a list of the largest number of suspensions and exclusions as a result of this behaviour.

Across all state primary schools, the number of pupils suspended or expelled for homophobic or transphobic bullying increased from 164 in 2021-22 to 178 in 2022-23. This data has only been collected since the 2020-21 academic year, and students can be excluded for multiple issues (up to three reasons can be recorded). Bradford was at the top of the list with 11 suspensions of primary school pupils for ‘Abuse against sexual orientation and gender identity’, while Birmingham’s data showed 9 suspensions and one permanent exclusion as a result of this behaviour.

Exclusions are a last resort for schools, dealing with difficult behaviour. Andrew Moffat, teacher and founder of the charity No Outsiders, explains: “I have worked with excluded children in my career. I have worked in resource bases where we tried to reintegrate children who had been excluded back in to mainstream education. Of course, if you are excluded you literally become an “outsider”. No school wants to exclude pupils."

Moffat believes that the rise in bullying and suspensions is related to social media usage among young people.

"Children have access to social media; we can’t control what they see and hear outside the school gates. There are challenging messages out there that I can’t shield children from. That’s why a strong school ethos of equality where we talk about difference and understand diversity is so vital.

"We need to be talking about it in schools. Listen to teachers and ask us. We are at the chalk face and we are dealing with this every day. Trust the profession.

"I go to hundreds of schools across the UK to train teachers and what I have noticed, particularly in the last five years, is often children are far more understanding about this stuff that adults think they are. We don’t need lessons about 'What is LGBT' with 9 and 10-year-olds - kids know this already! What we need is lessons with 9 and 10-year-olds about what is homophobia and how do we make sure it doesn’t happen in our school."

When the data was broken down by region, the West and East Midlands were among the schools with the highest numbers of suspensions and permanent exclusions due to homophobia and transphobia in primary schools, with 22 suspensions across the East Midlands and 17 suspensions plus one permanent exclusion across the West Midlands compared to 39 suspensions across Yorkshire and Humber, 18 suspensions and one permanent exclusion across Outer London, 26 suspensions across the East of England, and 18 suspensions across the North West. 

A DfE spokesman said: “All pupils and staff should feel safe and protected at school and should never face violence or abuse. 

"The Education Secretary has been clear that she expects school leaders to enforce good behaviour and we are committed to a comprehensive programme of behaviour support for schools."

In a survey of 31,875 pupils across the UK, including 4,307 primary school pupils aged 9 to 11, the charity, Just Like Us, discovered 78% of primary school children have heard homophobic language.

Laura Mackay, Chief Executive of Just Like Us, the LGBT+ young people’s charity said: “It is deeply concerning to learn that 78% of primary school children across the UK have heard homophobic language. The experiences shared by young people in our survey highlight the urgent need for education and open dialogue about the impact of homophobic language.

“Homophobic language should never be dismissed as ‘just a joke’ because we know it has real-life consequences, impacting the self-esteem and feelings of shame among LGBT+ young people and those from same-sex families. We are worried about young people reporting a rise in games aimed at children on TikTok where gay is being used as a derogatory insult.”