Education Secretary: ‘Teachers bullying gay students is inexcusable’

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has argued that teachers bullying LGBT pupils is “inexcusable”.

A study released by the National Aids Trust (NAT) yesterday (March 9) found that one in five gay and bisexual students have been verbally bullied by at least one of their teachers, or another adult in their lives, because of their sexuality. Find out more here.

In a new interview, Morgan has revealed that she was “devastated” by the statistics, saying that adults should “know better” than to belittle students who are struggling with their sexuality.

“I haven’t had a chance to read the report, but I was pretty devastated actually by reading the article,” she said on LBC Radio. “We have prioritised a £2 million fund to tackle specifically homophobic bullying. We’ve had a lot of organisations come forward with some really good ideas.

She continued: “Last month I was at a Stonewall Champion school, Eastbourne Academy, at the end of LGBT History Month they had posters everywhere, they had talks about it in their PSHE classes, and they were all really engaged, regardless of whether they were gay or straight or trans. It demonstrates to me how important it is the whole school gets together.

“The sadness in the newspaper article today was that the bullying or name-calling wasn’t just coming from students, it was also coming from adults, who should know better. I think it’s inexcusable,” she added.

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