I wrote a short piece for Early Years Scotland on ‘Keeping LGBT+ Inequality on the Agenda’ in their Spring 2020 Magazine for Early Years Professionals. You can subscribe to the magazine here and read my piece below.
Given the increasing attention paid to challenging gender stereotypes and promoting gender diversity, it’s important that we keep LGBT+ inclusive education on the agenda too. The current inequality numbers for LGBT+ children are dreadful in terms of bullying and discrimination in schools. This is situated within a recent history of education policy which was deliberately discriminatory against LGBT+ people (Section 28). Yet many have taken issue with the need to teach this in early learning and childcare (ELC), namely because of concerns that by talking about sexual orientation, we are talking about sex. This is obviously not the case. To teach LGBT+ inclusive education is to teach about inclusion, it is to teach about diversity, it is to teach that people should never experience discrimination or prejudice because of their sexual orientation. This is often seen as risky business, but we cannot afford not to if we are serious about addressing inequalities in ELC. Let’s do it!
Shaddai Tembo
