Proud Schools safe for now

The NSW Greens are cautiously hopeful the roll out of the Proud Schools anti-homophobia bullying program will not be up for negotiation when the ‘O’Farrell Government tries to pass legislation through the Legislative Council and the Christian Democrats when the Coalition seeks to pass legislation through the Legislative Council.

On May 27 Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann asked Education Minister Adrian Piccoli for a commitment on the program to “be expanded as soon as possible with a view to providing compulsory training for students and teachers in all NSW schools”.

On June 22 Piccoli replied, “I can assure you that the Department is progressing the program. A steering committee has been convened to provide expert advice and guidance to inform the direction, development and implementation of the pilot program.

“The steering committee includes government and non-government agencies with an interest in the outcomes of the program and/or with expertise in supporting same-sex attracted and gender questioning young people.”

The Department has contacted Family Planning NSW to undertake consultation work with students and teachers for the development of the pilot program.

The pilot program will be implemented in 12 high schools in the Hunter, Central Coast and Sydney regions, and will include a mix of mixed-sex, single-sex, metropolitan, rural, comprehensive and specialist schools.

“I have asked the steering committee to consider information and findings from the pilot program to make recommendations to inform the development of a final Proud Schools program that can be accessed by all government high schools,” writes Piccoli, “It is envisaged that this program will be made available to non-government schools as well.”

Labor, the Greens, the Nationals and the Liberal Party all committed to rolling out the Proud Schools trial during the recent election campaign.

“Given that we have received a promising letter from the Education Minister about how much the Government appears to value the Proud Schools pilot program, we would hope that the Government would not agree to it being on the negotiating table,” Faehrmann told the Star Observer.

“I imagine the Proud Schools program would be on Fred Nile’s radar though, thankfully, it appears the Government has recognised this is a good program, though we cannot say what the Christian Democrats will target next.”

In 2011 all NSW public schools will be required to review their anti-bullying pans to comply with the Education Department’s updated Bullying: Preventing and Responding to Student Bullying in Schools policy.

The policy states, “Bullying can involve humiliation, domination, intimidation, victimisation and all forms of harassment including that based on sex, race, disability, homosexuality or transgender [identity]. Bullying of any form or for any reason can have long-term effects on those involved including bystanders.”