Northern Ireland’s schools failing to address equalities issues

Schools across Northern Ireland are failing to offer proper equalities training to their staff, a union has said.

According to NASUWT, proper equalities training in Northern Ireland’s schools is lacking, despite the majority of teachers continuing to report on-going discrimination and homophobic/transphobic practices in their workplace.

These were among the findings which emerged from a poll of teachers attending an equalities conference staged in Belfast by the union.

The findings concluded that only nine per cent of respondents reported that their school was actively addressing issues of homophobia and transphobia among staff, and 22 per cent among students.

Fifty-nine per cent were aware of discriminatory practices within their school and not one teacher had undertaken school or local authority-led equalities training during the previous two years

In addition to this, 19 per cent believed their school was not a welcoming environment for teachers of different religions (12 per cent for students).

Chris Keates, NASUWT general secretary, said: “Teachers and school leaders are clearly not being given the training and support they need and too many employers are at best only paying lip service to equalities, doing little in practice to address on-going discrimination and prejudice.

“Our education service should be inclusive, promoting and demonstrating tolerance, respect and understanding in an environment where everyone can work and learn free from abuse and fear.”