Eager yet unprepared: Greek secondary education teachers facing homophobic violence in schools

Abstract

The current study aims to investigate aspects of homophobic school-based violence from a teachers’ perspective. A sample of 453 secondary education teachers across Greece participated and reported their intention for reactions against four hypothetical scenarios of homophobic violence (psychological, verbal, cyberbullying, physical). When expressing high intention to intervene, teachers were more likely to inform other school staff. The majority of the respondents (86.1%) had not received training on homophobic violence during their university studies, while those who had received such postgraduate training manifested stronger intention to act. Female and middle school teachers reported a stronger intention to act compared to male and high school teachers, respectively. Only 11% of the participants stated that their school had an action plan against homophobic violence. These results call for the development of school personnel training on homophobic violence and for the implementation of LGBTQIA + inclusive anti-harassment policies.