Almost one in five young transgender people in Scotland say they left education as a result of homophobia, biphobia or transphobia, according to research by charity LGBT Youth Scotland.
In a survey of 1,279 Scots aged between 13 and 25, of whom 49 per cent identified as trans, 80 per cent of trans participants said they felt that homophobia, biphobia or transphobia had a negative impact on their educational experience.
And 47 per cent said this bullying and discrimination had a negative impact on their attainment.
The charity’s Trans Report 2024, published yesterday, says “many participants” in the survey reported missing out on opportunities - including education and training opportunities - “due to the effects or fear of transphobia”.
Some reported missing out on qualifications, others reported dropping out of school altogether or being unable to concentrate in class because of “the threat of transphobic bullying”.
Trans school students suffer bullying
The result of this was “poor performance in school” and their attainment being “unfairly limited”, according to the report.
It adds that some participants blamed missing out on educational opportunities for later financial problems and debt.
Overall, according to the report, happiness among the young transgender community halved between 2012 and 2022, from 59 per cent to 28 per cent.
One transgender young person quoted in the report said their school attendance “started getting really bad” towards the end of primary because of transphobia and then in secondary they “dropped out completely and developed agoraphobia”. They said they became “incredibly wary of the education system as a result”.
In 2021 the Scottish government announced its ambition to become the first country to “embed lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-inclusive education across the school curriculum”.
According to the LGBT Youth Scotland report on trans young people’s experiences, LGBT-inclusive education “was pointed to as a step forward for Scotland”.
However, it adds that “many [survey] participants still found that the effects of this had not made a difference to their day-to-day experience”.
The report says: “There was a sense for many participants that although LGBT-inclusive education had been incorporated into the curriculum at their school, other pupils continued to engage in homophobic, biphobic and transphobic behaviours.”
Respondents said staff at their school, college or university were “not always proactive in taking action when they witness these behaviours”.
The report says: “Participants in the research felt that tackling this type of discrimination would be a supportive action that those around them could take to make the space safer for them.”
The LGBT Youth Scotland Trans Report 2024 is the final supplementary report based on the charity’s Life in Scotland for LGBT Young People research.
The full report was launched in February 2022, with three further reports published in 2023 on education, health and life in rural areas.
For the latest Scottish education news, analysis and features delivered directly to your inbox, sign up to Tes magazine’s The Week in Scotland newsletter
