Preventing homophobic and transphobic violence through inclusion education programs

Abstract

The prevalence of homophobic and transphobic (HT) violence is considered high in Greek schools. It is not only provoked by peers to peers but also by the educational staff to the students. Taking into consideration the above data, the Education Department of Organization Against Drugs (OKANA) in collaboration with the Rainbow school designed and wrote the educational material “The school of inclusion”, which is aimed to raise awareness and empower teachers to prevent discrimination and exclusion, based on identity, gender characteristics or expression and erotic / sexual orientation within the school context. The program is methodologically based on the Systemic Synthetic Appreciative Inquiry Model (SSAIM). Our work confirmed that it is of major importance to enhance the visibility of vulnerable groups such as LGBTI. “The school of inclusion” seems to be rather effective in empowering teachers and preventing homophobic and transphobic violence in schools.