top of page

Case Study- Testimonials

 

Form groups of 3-4 trainees / teachers, go through the testimonies presented below, reflect and discuss on the following:

 

 

  • It’s not what they say to me individually that gets at me, it’s the constant stream of anti-gay remarks that people don’t even know they make. I feel awful all the time. It eats away inside you and sometimes knowing what they’d do to me, if they knew, makes me lose the ability to breathe. Sophie, 15, private secondary school (South East)

 

 

  • It went on for most of my secondary school, which was an all-girls grammar school. I even got surrounded and threatened by about 30 girls on the bench, once in the school playground and the teachers didn’t do anything about it. Grace, 17, sixth form college (South East)

 

 

  • My former best friends started talking about me in classes behind my back. I found out when a group of girls called me over and said ‘so-and-so has been saying that you are a lesbo’. I strongly denied it, but that night I cried myself to sleep. I was scared to go to school the next day. Ellie, 14, secondary school (Scotland)

  • The amount of times I reported anti-gay bullying is innumerable, yet it was never tackled. The closest it came was a group of boys being told to ‘apologise’ – this was after several months of taunting and one occasion of actually managing to set me on fire. ‘Burn the dyke’ was a chant that followed me. I would like school to respond in the same way they to do racism or disability discrimination: rapidly and harshly. Max, 15, secondary academy (Yorkshire and the Humber)

 

 

  • If someone makes a racist or sexist remark, then staff and some students are quick to punish the student who made the remark. But if someone makes a homophobic remark, then no one says anything and people just brush it off as if it's alright to say these things. Liam, 16, pupil referral unit (Greater London)

 

 

  • The bullying went on for the whole five years of secondary school. From when I started to when I finished. I tried to fight back. I was depressed, I cut, and I was on the verge of suicide. For one year, I came home every day crying into my mum’s arms, saying I wanted to leave the school. Rabi, 15, sixth form college (Greater London)

 

 

  • One particular bully was brought in to the headteacher’s office. He was told off and the bullying stopped immediately. The headteacher handled it very well. Glen, 17, secondary school (Scotland)

 

 

  • Talking to someone you trust allows you to ‘let go’ of some of the responsibility. It's a little bit of a weight off your shoulders. Omar, 17, secondary academy (Yorkshire and the Humber)

bottom of page