Shaun Dellenty New Book «Celebrating Difference»

«Celebrating Difference» is published by Bloomsbury Education in May 2019 and coincides with Shaun’s tenth year of work in the field of LGBT+ inclusion in education, where he is recognised as breaking new ground, particularly in the primary and faith school sectors.

Shaun will be delivering a keynote and offering an advanced sneak peek of the book on 9th February at Teach Meet Create, to be held at The Westworks, 195 Wood Lane, London. W12 7FQ. Tickets at www.eventbrite.co.uk

In 2009 whilst working as a primary school leader and in response to homophobic bullying in his own school he ‘came out’ to his whole school community Shaun was widely reported in the press as being one of the first fully ‘out’ LGBT+ primary school leaders in the country, inspiring other teaching staff to come out as LGBT+. Shaun devised a pioneering LGBT+ inclusion training and awareness strategy «Inclusion For All» for staff in primary, secondary and faith schools. Shaun’s adopted a multi-layered approach; bringing awareness of LGBT+ identities across a variety of media, including social media, blogging, news and television.

Shaun also recounts his journey to many thousands of young people in school classrooms and assemblies, from suicidal survivor of homophobic bullying as a teenager to being designated a ‘Point of Light’ by the Prime Minister.

Shaun has now trained countless education staff and teachers in U.K. and international schools and initial teacher training faculties. Shaun has worked with teacher trade unions, local education authorities, anti-bullying, human rights and hate crime faith organisations including; NAHT, NSPCC, Amnesty International, Show Racism The Red Card and the Church of England. Shaun advised on policy at Westminster and collaborated on an anti-homophobia theatre in education production ‘BOY’ which was performed in U.K. Parliament.

Shaun is currently supporting the Isle of Man Department of Education, Sports and Culture to make the entire Island education system more positively LGBT+ inclusive. He is also an Advisor to the Centre For LGBTQ+ Inclusion in Education at Leeds Beckett University and is providing support for a global project on homophobic bullying in international education systems.

On writing the book «Celebrating Difference – A Whole School Approach to LGBT+ Inclusion» Shaun says:

«Being invited to write a book by a global brand such as Bloomsbury is incredibly humbling. For ten years now it has been an incredible privilege to help education systems move towards more open celebration of the joyful diversity of human life and in particular, LGBT+ identities. We must remember that U.K. schools have statutory and OFSTED requirements pertaining to LGBT+ inclusion, yet the majority of school staffs have had no initial teacher training about facilitating LGBT+ inclusion to prevent prejudice and bullying. I have been given a fantastic opportunity by Bloomsbury and my wonderful editor Hannah Marston to share in depth (but hopefully in a fairly easy to process accessible manner) my compassion-based approach to enabling sustainable LGBT+ inclusion in primary, secondary and faith schools. The initial chapter describes my experiences as a homophobically bullied teenager on the verge of suicide. The book also features case studies and contributions from schools, universities (including the Open University) and Dr Joe Hall from Leeds University. My hope is that we just might, over time get a copy into every school in the U.K. and in time I will actively be seeking sponsors and funding to facilitate this. If this book can support leaders to make schools safer and more inclusive places for even one young person, whether they identify as LGBT+ or not, I will have achieved my aims in writing it».