An annual Positive Climate Survey showing the number of Hamilton public secondary students who identify as being LGBTQ++ nearly matches those not feeling safe at school is “a clarion call” for action, an activist on the issue says.
Deirdre Pike, a senior social planner with the Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton, said she’s not overly surprised 17.5 per cent of respondents identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer or an orientation other than heterosexual.
She said although the number is somewhat higher than her own estimate for the general population, it likely reflects a growing willingness to identify.
Pike said she urged the board to include a question on sexual orientation years ago, but this is the first time the survey has done so.
She said the results may help explain another “appalling” number: 21.2 per cent of the 5,087 students who took part in the spring survey reported rarely or never feeling safe at school — more than double the nine per cent in the 2016 survey.
There was also a significant drop in those feeling safe all or most of the time, with the 53.3 per cent indicating so down from 77 per cent the year before. About a third of students at all high schools filled out the voluntary, anonymous survey.
Pike said a previous survey of Canadian high schools found students heard an average of 26 homophobic or transphobic slurs per day, with people interrupting the verbal abuse just three per cent of the time.
“How many kids are opting out of showing up at school because of the fear they face?” she asked, noting LGBTQ++ youth are more likely to wind up in service jobs or living on the street.
“Completion of school is lacking. This is highly impactful on student achievement, this fear. I’d say this is a clarion call and an urgent call to the school board, for sure.”
Board chair Todd White said he’s pleased by the number of students who were comfortable in identifying as LGBTQ++, even if the survey isn’t scientific because it was voluntary.
He said the board is embarking on a number of strategies to address safety concerns, including diversity training for educators and extra school supports, and can tailor them based on survey data for individual schools.
“For us, it is a call to action, very much so,” White said. “There are correlations between feeling safe at school and identifying as LGBTQ.”
The survey shows bullying continues to be a problem at both elementary and secondary levels, with 28 per cent of high schoolers reporting they’d been targets in the past school year, up from 26 per cent in 2016
Results were worse for elementary schools, where slightly more than half of students in grades 4 and up filled out surveys.
Of the 8,678 doing so, 42 per cent reported being bulled or harassed, up from 40 per cent the year before, when only half of elementary schools participated in the survey.
At 13.1 per cent, the number rarely or never feeling safe was up slightly from the 12 per cent the year before.
The most common forms of bullying at both school levels were verbal and social, the latter including gossip and ostracism.
Elementary students were more likely to be physically bullied — 41 per cent compared to 30 per cent — while 43 per cent of high schoolers reported being targeted online or via mobile devices, about double their elementary counterparts.
An annual Positive Climate Survey showing the number of Hamilton public secondary students who identify as being LGBTQ++ nearly matches those not feeling safe at school is “a clarion call” for action, an activist on the issue says.
Deirdre Pike, a senior social planner with the Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton, said she’s not overly surprised 17.5 per cent of respondents identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer or an orientation other than heterosexual.
She said although the number is somewhat higher than her own estimate for the general population, it likely reflects a growing willingness to identify.
Pike said she urged the board to include a question on sexual orientation years ago, but this is the first time the survey has done so.
She said the results may help explain another “appalling” number: 21.2 per cent of the 5,087 students who took part in the spring survey reported rarely or never feeling safe at school — more than double the nine per cent in the 2016 survey.
There was also a significant drop in those feeling safe all or most of the time, with the 53.3 per cent indicating so down from 77 per cent the year before. About a third of students at all high schools filled out the voluntary, anonymous survey.
Pike said a previous survey of Canadian high schools found students heard an average of 26 homophobic or transphobic slurs per day, with people interrupting the verbal abuse just three per cent of the time.
“How many kids are opting out of showing up at school because of the fear they face?” she asked, noting LGBTQ++ youth are more likely to wind up in service jobs or living on the street.
“Completion of school is lacking. This is highly impactful on student achievement, this fear. I’d say this is a clarion call and an urgent call to the school board, for sure.”
Board chair Todd White said he’s pleased by the number of students who were comfortable in identifying as LGBTQ++, even if the survey isn’t scientific because it was voluntary.
He said the board is embarking on a number of strategies to address safety concerns, including diversity training for educators and extra school supports, and can tailor them based on survey data for individual schools.
“For us, it is a call to action, very much so,” White said. “There are correlations between feeling safe at school and identifying as LGBTQ.”
The survey shows bullying continues to be a problem at both elementary and secondary levels, with 28 per cent of high schoolers reporting they’d been targets in the past school year, up from 26 per cent in 2016
Results were worse for elementary schools, where slightly more than half of students in grades 4 and up filled out surveys.
Of the 8,678 doing so, 42 per cent reported being bulled or harassed, up from 40 per cent the year before, when only half of elementary schools participated in the survey.
At 13.1 per cent, the number rarely or never feeling safe was up slightly from the 12 per cent the year before.
The most common forms of bullying at both school levels were verbal and social, the latter including gossip and ostracism.
Elementary students were more likely to be physically bullied — 41 per cent compared to 30 per cent — while 43 per cent of high schoolers reported being targeted online or via mobile devices, about double their elementary counterparts.
An annual Positive Climate Survey showing the number of Hamilton public secondary students who identify as being LGBTQ++ nearly matches those not feeling safe at school is “a clarion call” for action, an activist on the issue says.
Deirdre Pike, a senior social planner with the Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton, said she’s not overly surprised 17.5 per cent of respondents identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer or an orientation other than heterosexual.
She said although the number is somewhat higher than her own estimate for the general population, it likely reflects a growing willingness to identify.
Pike said she urged the board to include a question on sexual orientation years ago, but this is the first time the survey has done so.
She said the results may help explain another “appalling” number: 21.2 per cent of the 5,087 students who took part in the spring survey reported rarely or never feeling safe at school — more than double the nine per cent in the 2016 survey.
There was also a significant drop in those feeling safe all or most of the time, with the 53.3 per cent indicating so down from 77 per cent the year before. About a third of students at all high schools filled out the voluntary, anonymous survey.
Pike said a previous survey of Canadian high schools found students heard an average of 26 homophobic or transphobic slurs per day, with people interrupting the verbal abuse just three per cent of the time.
“How many kids are opting out of showing up at school because of the fear they face?” she asked, noting LGBTQ++ youth are more likely to wind up in service jobs or living on the street.
“Completion of school is lacking. This is highly impactful on student achievement, this fear. I’d say this is a clarion call and an urgent call to the school board, for sure.”
Board chair Todd White said he’s pleased by the number of students who were comfortable in identifying as LGBTQ++, even if the survey isn’t scientific because it was voluntary.
He said the board is embarking on a number of strategies to address safety concerns, including diversity training for educators and extra school supports, and can tailor them based on survey data for individual schools.
“For us, it is a call to action, very much so,” White said. “There are correlations between feeling safe at school and identifying as LGBTQ.”
The survey shows bullying continues to be a problem at both elementary and secondary levels, with 28 per cent of high schoolers reporting they’d been targets in the past school year, up from 26 per cent in 2016
Results were worse for elementary schools, where slightly more than half of students in grades 4 and up filled out surveys.
Of the 8,678 doing so, 42 per cent reported being bulled or harassed, up from 40 per cent the year before, when only half of elementary schools participated in the survey.
At 13.1 per cent, the number rarely or never feeling safe was up slightly from the 12 per cent the year before.
The most common forms of bullying at both school levels were verbal and social, the latter including gossip and ostracism.
Elementary students were more likely to be physically bullied — 41 per cent compared to 30 per cent — while 43 per cent of high schoolers reported being targeted online or via mobile devices, about double their elementary counterparts.