Beneath the Surface (Under ytan) An Equal project about understanding and changing norms and values in school

Vision To raise the issue of sexual orientation and homophobia in schools so that an environment is created where everyone is included regardless of sexual orientation

Brief Facts  Project Period: August 2005–April 2007  Twelve partner organizations including government authorities, trade unions, educational institutions and special-interest groups  Six pilot municipalities spread throughout Sweden  Collaboration with similar projects in France, Lithuania and Slovenia

Target Groups  Teachers  School administration and personnel  Students and teachers in teaching programs  Municipal politicians and employees within the educational area  Trade union representatives  Students

Activities  Research  Development of educational resources, methodologies for raising awareness in a school environment, and inspirational material for school use  Work with training institutions on the issue of how norms are created and reproduced in a school environment

Activities Activities cont.  Support teachers in working with sexual orientation issues and homophobia  Create awareness and offer competence-raising education for school administration and personnel  Work with municipalities’ plans and protocols

Research Project: How Heterosexuality Is Made Normative in School and Teacher Education  Four parts:  Strategy studies  Teachers ’ education  School environment  School as a workplace … and a survey addressing teachers: “A challenge ofHeteronormativity “A challenge of Heteronormativity ”

Method  Start with yourself, then proceed with your students  Focus on the heterosexual norm and work with an integrated perspective  Start in preschool  Include teachers ’ education institutions

Material  “Life in the Teachers’ Lounge. On Sexual Orientation and the Working Environment in School”  “Silence in the Classroom? On Teachers’ Work with Sexual Orientation”  “What Lies Beneath the Surface?”  Two more books and a research anthology in progress

Content in a Training Session  Personal values exercises  The heteronorm and heteronormativity  Terms and concepts  The importance of being able to be open  Film and discussion

Beneath the Surface (Under ytan) An Equal project about understanding and changing norms and values in school

Research on Openness in the Workplace 2003: Swedish National Institute for Working Life study on working conditions and vulnerability   General population sample   Occupation sample   LGBT organizations sample   Ca. 14,000 responses (50% response rate)

Differences in Experiences Degrading and ridiculing opinions about homo- and bisexuals in general occur at work:  28% of homo- and bisexual women answer “yes”  8% of heterosexual women answer “yes” Men: 25% and 15% Swedish National Institute for Working Life, 2003

Openness Not open to colleagues  25% in the LGBT organizations sample  50% in the general and occupation sample  33% of all homo- and bisexual teachers Even fewer are open towards “customers and clients” Swedish National Institute for Working Life, 2003

Openness  Of those who are not open, 40% refrain from taking part in conversations with colleagues and others for fear of being “outed”.  60% of those who are not open think that most of their colleagues know that they are homo-/bisexual anyway. Swedish National Institute for Working Life, 2003

Study Conclusions  There are significant differences in experiences between heterosexuals and homo-/bisexuals.  A large number are not open.  A gender perspective is necessary in the analysis. Similar conclusions were drawn in a 2003 study at Karlstad University in Sweden.

Beneath the Surface (Under ytan) An Equal project about understanding and changing norms and values in school