David and Mike both work in British secondary schools. Both teach physical education. And both are gay. David has four years of teaching experience working in four schools. He is not “out” to many people in his work setting, owing to the perceived stereotype of the male PE teacher as macho, strong and athletic.

Of course, gay men can be those things (and lots of them are); however, PE is often seen as the “last bastion of masculinity” - where men are men and being gay goes against those “masculine” traits.

David is also a private person: work and home are different. Although the same could be said for the majority of teachers, it has been argued previously that LGBT+ teachers “fear” talking about their personal lives with students, whereas their heterosexual counterparts do not. Research has also pointed out that being an LGBT+ teacher means you must circumnavigate multifaceted personal and professional boundaries, which straight people may not have to.

Mike, meanwhile, has taught for 10 years working in three schools. In his school, students and staff know he is gay. Initially, Mike had doubts about becoming a PE teacher for a number of reasons. He had concerns regarding the potential abuse he could be subjected to, while also being worried about whether parents and students would be comfortable with an openly gay man being in and around the changing rooms at the start and end of lessons. But despite Mike’s reservations, his friends and university tutor encouraged him to continue his ambition.

Failure to act

We looked into the differing experiences of Mike and David in their respective schools as part of a research project, and they tell us a lot about how far we have really come in battling homophobia in schools.

David has been the victim of two homophobic incidents at work this year. This has involved a student shouting “gay boy” at him and, later, a different student calling him “faggot”. A member of staff witnessed the second incident and informed David.

David handled these two incidents very differently. He chose to take no action following the first incident, owing to not feeling fully prepared to deal with it. In hindsight, he regrets that decision as it could have set a precedent for future instances.

David did, however, decide to act upon the second incident. He informed the head of year and a senior leader, as well as phoning home to speak to the student’s parents.

Unfortunately, the school eventually decided to take no action against the student involved. This caused David to feel incredibly let down, making him feel very apprehensive and unsure how to tackle future issues. He no longer enjoys going in to work.

Not only do these incidents strengthen David’s instinct not to come out to the students in his school, but they also set back decades of hard work to “usualise” (Barnes and Carlile, 2018) being LGBT+, showing that there is still work to be done.

Meanwhile, Mike’s experiences are somewhat different. While he states that some senior leaders could do more to protect their staff who identify as LGBT+, Mike has not experienced discrimination.

Is this because Mike’s school knows he is gay while, in David’s case, the school is not aware of his sexuality? How would the school have acted on the “faggot” incident if it had known that he was gay?

The school should act regardless of someone’s sexuality or perceived sexuality. Every school should already be making a stand against homophobia, demonstrating that it will not be tolerated in society and certainly not within our schools.

Not knowing how to approach the issue is not an excuse: we have known for many years that homophobia should be challenged (Russell, 2011) by having an anti-bullying policy; effective teacher interventions; the availability of support and information; school-based support groups; and the inclusion of LGBT+ people within the school. The government has also introduced a further £1 million of funding for bullying interventions for homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, according to its 2018-19 LGBT Action Plan, so any lack of funding pleas are red herrings.

So it comes down to a desire and a commitment to challenge. Where discrimination is directed against a member of staff who is “out”, then it seems action is taken. But when an incident does not involve an “out” member of staff? David’s experience would suggest we have a long way to go.

We also have some way to go in creating LGBT-friendly spaces in schools. Mike states that he doesn’t feel isolated, whereas David often does. David’s school has no openly gay teachers whereas, in Mike’s school, there is another staff member who is gay. David’s feelings of isolation often stem from his believing that he has nobody to turn to with his concerns. He feels that nobody would understand the struggles or emotions he has, as they do not relate to them personally.

‘We cannot rest’

Some teachers, both homosexual and heterosexual, may be reading this and thinking that these incidents might not happen to David if he were to come out. While this could be true, David must evaluate the risk of telling students, not knowing how they might react but being aware of the incidents that have already taken place. In terms of David’s mental health, knowing that he could be subjected to homophobic attacks at work but still have to go and give it his all is tough, which is why having a confidant at work would help to alleviate some of the pressure he feels under.

Mike’s experience would suggest that we have definitely made progress on LGBT+ issues in schools. But we cannot rest. David’s experience tells us that there is a lot more we can do: schools must protect staff from incidents by having a robust policy that is consistently applied across the school.

All staff, regardless of their position, need to challenge every single homophobic incident. This should already be happening, but it is clear from the above experiences that it is not happening everywhere. This needs to change so that staff and students feel safe.

Andrew Prestidge and Grant Huddleston are secondary PE teachers

This article originally appeared in the 17 April 2020 issue under the headline “Is PE the last bastion of homophobia?”