Rainbows in Schools Session at Better Together Conference, Jan 13, 2018.

The session today was amazing.  We had no idea how many people might turn up, but were in a room that had maximum of 20 people.  Luckily there were extra chairs, because we had more than 50 people!!! There were people sitting on the floor (sorry, Flis!) and standing up at the doorway.  There were parents, teachers, youth workers and students. 

It was amazing to see so many people fired up about this issue. 

We decided to merge the session with one by Clare Ellis from University of New South Wales, who was scheduled to run a session called Developing and Ally Network.  Clare has developed and run an ally education program at the UNSW for a number of years, and knows a phenomenal amount about the area.  She believes many of the principles she applies to the development of ally networks in university settings, are applicable to school settings as well.  So she gave us some great tips.  I will summarize her material and link to it.  

Many amazing things were discussed, including the preliminary results of the Rainbows in Schools Survey, which I will link too, also.

There was a great deal of interest in establishing continued discussion about this issue, and Rainbows in Schools website and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/rainbowsinschools/ and Facebook discussion group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359210574542677/  seem a good place for this until we can work out another solution.

Watch this space!!

Some preliminary survey results from first 6 days:

From the survey launch on Tuesday Jan 2nd, 2018, until 9am this morning, Mon Jan 8th, 2018, the survey has had 270 respondents, which is an amazing response for less than a week of operation!    

Who are the respondents?

61% of the respondents are parent/carers, 5% are students, 38% are working in schools, and 16% of respondents described their role as "other". 

56% of respondents identify as LGBTQI, 27% are parents of students who identifies as LGBTQI, 33% identify as allies, and 5% identify as "other".

Where are they?

62% of respondents are in VIC, 21% in NSW, 7% in SA, 5% in WA, 3% in ACT, and 3% in QLD.

The local government area most covered is Darebin, with 15% of respondents living there, 4% in Moreland, 3% in Sydney, 3% in Yarra, 2% in Mornington Peninsula, 2% in Hobsons Bay, 2% in Melbourne, 2% in Knox, and 68% in "Other" areas, which means they are so widely spread that only have 1-2 respondents from there.

What kind of schools?

Most respondents are involved with primary schools (59%), with 33% with secondary schools, 17% with pre-schools, and 8% with schools they classified as "other".

The majority of schools are state schools (71%), with 17% independent schools, 5% Catholic schools, and 7% "other".

Did the respondents want the schools to have done more to support and include LGBTQI students and families during marriage equality debate?

Yup.  Muchly, yup.  Of the 153 respondents who answered the question, 82% said Yes, 7% said No, 12% said unsure.

What additional things would they have liked the school to have done?

The main theme in answers to this question was to show additional proactive and visible support for the LGBTQI community (e.g. rainbow flags, posters, supportive statements in newsletters, celebrate days like IDAHOBIT).   Respondents also wanted schools to take an active role in the education of the school community about:

• the harm of anti-LGBTQI attitudes and behaviour, and
• correcting the misinformation in the media about the Safe Schools unit and 'All of Us' program.

And of course, respondents very much wanted the schools to do these things without LGBTQI families having to ask for it again, and again, and again.....