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Introduction
Bullying remains one of the biggest issues that restrict the educational outcome of children at school. According to research, 46% children and young individuals have been reported to be bullied at some point in life (Einarsen, 2011). While the issue receives little attention by schools and parents but its impact on life is enormous. Some of the most common kind of bullying include physical, verbal, and relational bullying. The physical may involve actions like hitting, punching, or slapping. The verbal bullying commonly occurs by name calling, while the relational bullying occurs by peers who hurt someone by destroying their social reputation. One of the most common bullying that occurs in educational setting is Homophobic bullying that refers to a kind of bullying that occurs due to the difference or perceived difference in the sexual orientation of the individual (Chan & Tutu, 2010). Homophobic bullying can potentially destroy the personality of a children; therefore, tackling it tactfully is sheer significant.
This paper evaluates the homophobic bullying in the educational setting of United Kingdom. State law of the United Kingdom directs schools to follow the anti-discriminatory law, which also include the arena of bullying (Dalglish, Evans & Lawson, 2011). It usually occurs due to the physical appearance of the children, and it has a significant impact on the performance of children at school. This issue should be the utmost priority of educational institutional institutions, and the same should be considered by the families. If such a situation is not controlled, then it may lead to grave circumstance including suicides. The notion of bullying has a major effect on the psychological state of mind (Edward, 2004). The negative attitude of the peer group makes the children to be the victim of inferiority complex. The idea of inferiority complex declines the confidence level that ultimately creates hurdles in learning performance. The inability of parents to understand his issue further escalates the problem for children, as they do not have a support circle around them. Bullying at school and lack of support mechanism create psychological issues for children that have adverse short-term and long-term outcomes (Cochrane & Cockett, 2007).
Significance of the Issue and Rationale
Among all children, homophobic individuals and children with learning disabilities are the primary victims of bullying (Warin, 2010). As it restricts the academic progress of the individual, a categorical understanding of the issue is mandatory. The leadership of the educational institutes must incorporate practices that limit such behavior in the campuses. According toa research, 29% individuals self-harm due to bullying, which is certainly an extreme figure (Guerin, 2002). Not only this, 27% skip have their classes, and 14% developed eating disorders (Guerin, 2002). On the contrary, 12% run away from their homes due to bullying (Linds, Goulet & Sammel, 2010, 28). When these individuals have some sort of behavioral issues, they are at high risk of being involved in criminal activities. From the aforementioned analysis, it is quite clear that the homophobic bullying not just effects the individual, but it has its severe effects on families and society as a whole (Pillemer & White, 2005). To tackle the issue of bullying at educational institutes, there should be the involvement of state to address this case (Guerin, 2002). The first intervention can be the awareness of children, families and school management. Children should understand that the issue they face is actually being faced by many individuals, and there are methods to deal with it. The families through these awareness programs will be able to explore the behavioral changes of children for identifying if they are facing any sort of bullying at school. Management through these programs will be able to develop policies and systems that restrict such behavior in the educational institutions. Training of staff is critical as it can play a vital role in curbing bullying.
Studies and Theoretical Background
According to the studies by UNESCO, violence at school has a direct impact on the learning achievement at school. The violence has a long-term effect that can only be improved by altering the situation at school (Hayes, 2004). Homophobic bullying has been categorized as a peer violence, where the abuse of power occurs by the peer due to the actual or perceived sexual orientation of others (Edward, 2004). It is a situation of continuous abuse of power, where is usually ignored by teachers considering it as a regular interaction by the peer. According to a study, bisexual and homosexual individuals are four times more likely to commit suicide based on the continuous harassment faced by educational institutions (Edward, 2004). It reduces the self-esteem of a person and he considers himself worthless of anything. This reduced level of self-esteem makes the situation for an individual difficult, which has a long-term negative impact on the personality of an individual (Edward, 2004).
Bullying in the educational institutions can cause a harmful impact on the learners. If this issue is not dealt effectively, then it can ruin student's life, as well as, his personality. The problem can easily be observed in the educational setting worldwide. Bullying is intended to hurt someone because fear or oppressed others (Hayes, 2004). The act is not justifiable in any country's law or regulation. The action ignites criminal offense or violence; state and educational institutions must have proper steps to deal the issue. One of the types of bullying which is very common in the today's environment is Homophobic Bullying. Learners, whose behavior and appearance are different from their biological sexual identity, are usually the victims of homophobic bullying (Hayes, 2004). The study depicted the fact that young people are more prone to homophobic bullying than in their homes or communities (Smith, 2004, 11).
Learners who are LGBT (Lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgender) face homophobic bullying, apart from them, others who might not declare as LGBT also face such kind of harassment within an educational setting. The studies depicted that homophobic bullying can cause adverse effects on a child. Homophobic bullying includes teasing, insulting publicly, intimidation, social isolation, damaging belongings, sexual assault, and cyber bullying all those acts that offend the other person mentally (Hayes, 2004). The study depicts that boys are more assaulted than girls. The homophobic bullying is seen among boys in gyms, washrooms, sports field and the classroom settings. Research has been conducted in five Lebanon universities regarding homophobic bullying. According to that the investigation, learners were bullied by their peers and staffs. They experienced homophobic bullying in the following forms: harassment, deprivation of academic rights and blackmailing. One of the students reported that his teacher asked him to leave the class every time he entered. The act compelled the students towards social isolation (Cochrane & Cockett, 2007).
In the primary and secondary schools of UK, homophobic bullying has been found to the most common yet serious issue. Teachers of secondary schools reported 90% homophobic bullying incidents. On the other hand, primary schools bullying cases are around 40% (Stonewall, 2009, 1-22). The survey was conducted in 2002 by the Department Of Education in England and Wales; in that study, the findings proved that 82% of the teachers were well aware of the verbal homophobic bullying cases faced by their students, and 26% of the others were aware of their physical assaults (Edward, 2004). Instead of taking actions, teachers prefer to neglect such incidents, which may cause an adverse impact on the child in future (Edward, 2004). The verbal or physical humiliating behaviors not just violating the children rights to protect them from violent activity but also such acts are adversely affecting students’ academic performance. The studies conducted on the similar issue reported that increased number of school dropouts have been observed due to homophobic bullying (Hayes, 2004). It has also been indicated that the children who are the victims of homophobic bullying get involved in the criminal activities in their adulthood (Russell, Kosice, Horn & Saewyc, 2010, 24).
Homophobic Bullying Issue and Advisory Actions for Schools
There is a need to take actions against homophobic bullying in the school environment. The advisory measures should be practiced in the school setting to reduce and eradicate the homophobic incidents. These actions are as follows: creating awareness, proper training of all staffs, broadening the curriculum, reviewing policies on bullying and make sure that the leaders input their maximum in reducing such incidents.
Raising Awareness and Changing Attitudes
It has been reported that the incidents of homophobic are more encountered in the secondary school environment. Schools encourage enrolling diverse pupil but failing to create awareness among staffs and students to respect their diversity regarding gender, culture, religion, etc. It has been observed that when LGBT is enrolled, they confront with the acceptance issue among peers, as well as, staff members. Awareness is the first and the foremost important step to minimize the occurance of bullying at schools, so it should be made a important aspect of classroom setting (Nelson, 2010) .
Training Staff Members
It is highly required to train the staff members when it comes to reducing the incidents caused by homophobic bullying within educational institutions. The study has proven the fact that most of the teachers have reported a lack of confidence and unpreparedness towards responding to homophobic bullying incidents. There is a need to train the staffs and guide them to take appropriate actions to reduce and overcome such serious issue. There is a need to train the teachers on LGBT issues, and the teachers training should be accessed by the local authority. For instance, Stonewall Scotland programs ‘Train the Trainer’, in which teachers are trained and given the confidence to tackle LGBT issues in the classroom settings (Cohen, McCabe, Michelle & Pickeral, 2009, 213).
Broaden the Scope of Curriculum
There is a need to design an inclusive curriculum, which speaks out against anti-bullying actions, not just that, the curriculum content must portray the realistic image of LGBT people. The curriculum must include topics like child protection against violence and bully, highlight human rights, discourages discrimination and promotes diversity (Smith, 2003).
The study suggested that more than a third of secondary teachers are not aware of the fact whether they are allowed to speak out about LGBT and homophobic bullying issues in the school. The study recommended that the more talks on this sensitive subject would help in overcoming bullying incidents within school premises. It is highly recommended for the schools to revise their bullying policies in a way that best assist in taking actions against homophobic bullying acts. School leaders should be responsible for making sure that all the staff members address issues pertinent to LGBT issues (Russell, Kosciw, Horn & Saewyc, 2010, 24).
World Health Organization and Anti-Bullying
The health protection organization and world health organization consider bullying as a violent activity. Violence can be categorized as physical and mental. Bullying is considered as violence activity in which person is mental abuse and oppressed. The WHO study proves the fact that youth is the primary victims of bullying. On average of 40 developing countries, there are 37% of the girls and 42% of boys who are being bullied. WHO is working towards minimizing the bullying incidents from the school environment (Monks & Coyne, 2011). For that purpose, many school-based prevention programs are being introduced and operational. One of them is the school-based anti-bullying prevention programs which give awareness to the staff members that how to tackle bullying incidents within the school environment. The WHO has designed programs, which enable youth, parents, and teachers the adverse health effects of bullying on victims. The victims might face serious health issues because of being bullied. Some of the exposed health concerns are as follows: usage of substance abuse, poor academic performance, little memorization ability, expose to criminal and violent activities, personality or behavior disorder, etc. (WHO, 2015, Para 1-12).
The homophobic bullying should be considered as a severe case of violence. Violence refers to the words and actions that are intended to hurt people. If this definition of violence is taken into consideration, the homophobic bullying ultimately falls under this criteria. Bullying severely affects the psychological state of a person (Dalglish, Evans & Lawson, 2011). The psychological effects of bullying further develop into problems that have a physical impact. Physical and psychological effects combine to create problems for society and family. It can be now understood that the consequences of bullying is multifold. Not just a person but the family and society as a whole suffer due to the curse of bullying (Dalglish, Evans & Lawson, 2011). The act of bullying restricts a person to exercise his or her basic human rights. Like any other act of violence that hampers an individual from exercising his or her human rights, the homophobic bullying should be categorized as an offense and an act of violence (Dalglish, Evans & Lawson, 2011).
The effect of bullying on the overall personality of a child is multifold, which should be adequately diagnosed and treated. There are two major kinds of approaches that include social-holistic model and bio-medical model (Cochrane & Cockett, 2007) . The bio-medical model is frequently used as it deals with the conventional method of addressing the physical aspect. The physician identifies the issue and tries to treat the underlying cause through a medicinal approach. On the other hand, the holistic approach deals with all the major aspect that includes physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and physiological. This is the most relevant approach as it deals with all the issues important for nurturing a strong personality (Livingstone & Haddon, 2012). People who have faced bullying during school years have a high probability of feeling inferiority complex. Inferiority complex is something that can only be treated through a holistic approach. In this method, the receiver of the treatment is at the center, and the pivotal target is to restore the physical, emotional, spiritual, social, psychological wellbeing.
Structural and Individual Factors
The issue of homophobic bullying is multi-dimensional, and it needs an approach that takes into consideration all the relevant parties that include the social surrounding, individual himself, and the policymakers (Guerin, 2002). The policymakers must develop such sort of strict laws that makes it mandatory for the educational institutions to make necessary arrangement to restrict bullying at their campuses (Hayes, 2004). At the same time, there is a tremendous responsibility on the social circle of the individual that include the family and friends. The institution of the family plays a critical role when the individual faces bullying at school (Rivers, 2011). The person who undergoes such circumstances at school feels it derogatory to discuss this issue with the family if the environment at home is not comfortable enough. It is the responsibility of parents to create a healthy environment at home where children will be able to discuss their problems and achievements (Dalglish, Evans & Lawson, 2011). Unavailability of such a place will make the situation tough for students.
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