Celebrating LGBT+ History Month and inspiring year-round support for the community
LGBT+ History Month provides schools and their learners with a useful reference point for the much-needed discussions around the issues of equity and inclusion in the LGBT+ community - discussions that can and should be held all year round.
Pearson is committed to supporting LGBT+ inclusion and in recognition of February’s LGBT+ History Month, we have collated some of our free resources. From blogs to research insights, inspiring poetry to tips and guidance, we hope these materials support you in your discussion with pupils, parents and peers throughout your communities.
LGBT+ inclusion matters to us teachers by Bex Bothwell-O’Hearn
“Understanding the amazing contributions made by LGBT+ people in history, learning about queer art and culture and reading literature by LGBT+ writers inevitably benefits all students, regardless of their identity.”
Bex Bothwell-O’Hearn, a history and politics teacher at a high school and sixth form and founder Suffolk DEI Network, shares her views on LGBT+ inclusion in history and what she’s doing to celebrate more diversity across her school.
Bex provides expert knowledge, real life experiences and advice to demonstrate the critical value of championing diversity and inclusion as a teacher to impressionable students.
LGBT Poet Laureate Trudy Howson’s #PrideInEducation
“Education can give us confidence to be who we are, without fear. To value our contribution to society, as non binary trans or queer.”
For last year’s Pride in Education conference, Pearson commissioned a poem by LGBT+ Poet Laureate, Trudy Howson, to help promote the message that education can help encourage understanding and open minds.
Download the Pride in education poem poster
We brought the poem to life with a special recording of #PrideInEducation, uniting students, teachers, practitioners, and representatives from the LGBT+ community and resulting in an inspirational video, which can bring confidence and a sense of belonging to learners.
Watch Pride in education by Trudy Howson - YouTube
Laila El-Metoui’s Top Tips for LGBTIQA+ inclusion in the classroom
“You cannot be what you cannot see – represent diverse people in your curriculum. Consider the wheel of privilege when deciding case studies to share with students in the classroom.”
Towards the end of last year, we were delighted to host a Diversity & Inclusion webinar series with a host of inspirational sector leaders and experts.
Pride in Education’s Founder, Laila El-Metoui, hosted a live webinar on ‘Diversifying your curriculum, a closer look at LGBTIQA+ inclusivity in schools all year round’ and boy was it a success!
Laila wrote an impactful blog for Pearson: ‘The Impact Will Last a Lifetime’, and ahead of the webinar Laila also wrote a blog called ‘A closer look at LGBTIQA+ inclusion.’
We had some amazing feedback from participants about how much people learnt from Laila during the event, and we are continuing to provide shareable takeaways including ‘Laila El–Metoui’s Top Tips for LGBTIQA+ inclusion in the classroom’ which includes top tips for promoting LGBTIQA+ Inclusion in the classroom, a brief history of LGBTIQA+ and a glossary of terms. Download the PDF
To find out more about Pearson’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in education, as well as even more free resources, please check out our Diversity & Inclusion in Schools report and visit the Diversity & Inclusion homepage.
For even more support, please read the LGBT+ Inclusive Curriculum Guides for Primary and Secondary. Created by Stonewall, sponsored by Pearson.
Follow and tag @PearsonSchools when sharing #LGBTHistoryMonth activity on Twitter.