The Department for Education and Government Equalities Office has commissioned the National Children’s Bureau’s Anti-Bullying Alliance and Sex Education Forum to lead on a programme building on the work our respective charities delivered within our 2016 to 2017 programmes.

“Learn Equality Live Equal” sees the NCB and EACH working in partnership to challenge homophobic, biphobic or transphobic (HBT) bullying in primary and secondary schools in a programme running between 2017 and 2019.

Learn Equality –  Live Equal supports schools to take a whole school approach to preventing HBT bullying and to challenge it age-appropriately and effectively as it arises.

EACH, the National Children’s Bureau and every agency working to support children and young people welcomes the continual improvement in legislation which safeguards them. It’s also affirming to see increasing positive representation of gay or trans individuals and same-sex couples in advertising, the media and film.

Despite these advances, homophobic, biphobic and transphobic name-calling and bullying remains problematic in enough schools for them to want to challenge it and create a safer study and working environment for pupils and teachers alike. Left unchallenged, pupils fail to thrive emotionally, physically and this is reflected in their school achievements across the board.

Learn Equality –  Live Equal is being delivered in the West of England, East Midlands, West Midlands, South West and the East of England. It expressly reaches out to schools who’ve not previously undertaken significant work to challenge HBT bullying. We’re asking the schools with whom we’re working to take a whole school approach to effect change. We know that by training staff to share their learning across the whole school wide-scale, positive change is achieved.

Launched in April 2017 the National Children’s Bureau and EACH will be running this programme until March 2019. To ensure the learning from this project is shared as widely as possible, Sheffield Hallam University will carry out an independent evaluation at the end of the programme. Their report is expected to be published in March 2019. The key findings will help inform government policy and build the sectors understanding on how to reduce the incidence of homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.

The National Children’s Bureau has been awarded a grant from the Department for Education to expand their work supporting schools to tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic (HBT) bullying. A new partnership between the Anti-bullying Alliance (ABA), Sex Education Forum (SEF) and Educational Action Challenging Homophobia (EACH) will deliver a programme of targeted support to over 350 eligible schools from March 2017.

Funding has been awarded to work with up to eight local authorities across the South West, West Midlands, East Midlands and the East.