The founder of an education charity has said that gay teachers are often told to keep quiet about their sexuality when their 'lifestyle choice' does not fit in with the values of their school.
Shaun Dellenty, deputy head and founder of the education charity, Inclusion for All, has claimed that inequality and homophobic bullying is still rife in schools, with pupils and staff being affected.
In a piece in the TES, Mr Dellenty - who is deputy head at the Alfred Salter primary school in London - said that some gay members of staff had to pretend to be single, or refer to their male partners as she rather than him.
"There are still some headteachers, especially in faith schools, who tell gay teachers that their 'lifestyle choice' is at odds with the school ethos," he wrote.
"When I was a child I loved hearing about my teacher's weekends and holidays: it made them more human. Never did I think about what they got up to in the bedroom and yet some people in schools unfortunately chose to define LGBT teachers by one aspect of their lives."
Mr Dellenty told The Independent that he knew of cases where a male teacher was told his partner would not be welcome at school functions, and a gay deputy head who was told not to apply for the headship 'because the parents wouldn't like it'.
Mr Dellenty will present a paper at the Festival of Education at London University's Institute of Education later this month which will state that a 'teacher's inability to come out means that a huge amount of emotional energy gets invested in hiding away aspects of some educators'.