General Introduction to the Transnational Research
In this reports we collect the main results from the first work-stream of the project RAINBOW: this phase consisted, first of all, of a review of national and international literature about the theme of homophobia and homophobic bullying in schools. We tried to highlight the main aspects of gender and sexual orientation stereotypes in school systems, we presented key European and national legislation about this topic and we reported the main existing projects against homophobia and homophobic bullying in different contexts. Secondly, we carried out the field work, which was composed of a first part of in-depth interviews to actors of the system (teachers and managers), deepening themes related to internal policies against homophobia and homophobic bullying, to specific projects, to stereotypes and prejudices about gender and sexual orientation, to personal attitudes and, finally, we collected some general recommendations for educational outputs. A second part of the fieldwork consisted in the implementation of some focus groups, in which teachers, parents and experts, starting from the interviews findings, further discussed the topic.
In the reports, after a first common part regarding the main theoretical references and key European legislation, we will have different country sections, with a secondary data context analysis as well as the main results of the field research conducted during the project.
English