LGBTQ+ competency training for professionals who work with young people
Know what to say.
Know what to do.
Know where you stand legally.
Rainbow Wise is a CPD-accredited professional development platform for schools, youth settings and practitioners, built on current law, safeguarding guidance and real-world practice.
Supporting LGBTQ+ young people shouldn’t depend on guesswork.
Most professionals who work with young people want to get this right.
But LGBTQ+ topics can feel complex and easy to get wrong. Guidance moves. Media coverage creates more noise than clarity. Staff worry about saying the wrong thing, mishandling a conversation, upsetting a parent, or missing a safeguarding concern.
So they hesitate.
And hesitation has consequences for the LGBTQ+ young people who need support in the moment:
1. A young person comes out to a member of staff, and that adult doesn’t know how to respond.
2. Homophobic or transphobic language is heard in a corridor, and no one feels confident addressing it.
3. A member of staff is asked for guidance, but the legal picture feels unclear.
4. A school is aware there are notable knowledge gaps around LGBTQ+ issues within their setting, but doesn’t know how to train the whole staff body properly, or doesn’t have the time or budget to put everyone through a live course.
Rainbow Wise removes that uncertainty.
It gives professionals clear, current and practical training they can use at the point of need, so that support doesn’t depend on confidence, personal experience or guesswork.
Training is self-paced, always accessible and updated regularly as guidance changes.
Who is it for?
For schools and institutions
For headteachers, SLTs, DSLs, governors, academy trusts, MATs and youth organisations. We can offer a whole-setting, trust or local authority licence giving every member of staff access to clear, CPD-accredited capability training, with completion reporting to evidence delivery across the setting.
For individual professionals
For independent tutors or teachers, support staff, youth workers, health professionals, social care practitioners, sports coaches, foster carers and anyone else working with young people. Individual access gives you practical training you can complete at your own pace and return to whenever you need it.
WHY RAINBOW WISE?
Proudly supporting 15,000 young people in settings across the UK
CLEAR GUIDANCE FOR COMPLEX SITUATIONS
Rainbow Wise was built because professionals need more than awareness to support the young people in their care.
They need to know the law. They need the right language to use. They need practical guidance for real-life situations with real young people.
Rainbow Wise is a professional capability platform built to help adults support LGBTQ+ young people safely, appropriately and confidently. The training is calm, clear, legally grounded and practical, designed for busy working environments where professionals need answers they can trust, particularly in this rapidly evolving field.
KNOW. SPEAK. ACT.
Rainbow Wise is built around three layers of professional capability.
1. KNOW The legal foundations.
The evidence, safeguarding context and current guidance. You understand what the law says, what your obligations are, and what matters when supporting LGBTQ+ young people.
2. SPEAK The language and terminology.
The identity, language and vocabulary professionals need. You know what to say, what not to say, and how to communicate with clarity and care.
3. ACT Practical skills for real situations.
You know how to respond when these topics come up, whether in a group setting or one-to-one, when harmful language is used, when a parent raises concerns, or when a situation needs safeguarding judgement.
HOW IT WORKS
Getting started is straightforward.
1. Choose your access.
You can choose a partial or whole-setting licence for your school, trust or organisation. Or individual access if you are a professional working with young people.
2. Complete the training at your own pace.
Work through the platform in manageable sections. Dip in and out. Return to the guidance whenever you need it. Come back to it when you need a refresh. Your licence gives you a full 12 months access to everything, 24/7.
3. ACT Practical skills for real situations.
Know what to say. Know what to do. Know where you stand legally.
WHY IT MATTERS
When professionals are equipped, young people are better supported.
A young person comes out to a member of staff, and that adult knows how to respond calmly and appropriately.
A lunchtime supervisor hears homophobic language and addresses it clearly and confidently.
A coach wants to support a young person in their team and understands exactly what to say and do.
A DSL has legally grounded guidance to hand when a situation becomes complex.
A headteacher can evidence that the whole staff body has completed relevant, current training.
Rainbow Wise helps create settings where outcomes for LGBTQ+ young people are not dependent on luck, or on finding the one adult who already knows what to do.
Every professional who works with young people should have access to clear, current capability training and resources. Rainbow Wise makes that possible.
BUILT ON LAW, EVIDENCE AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
- CPD accredited
- Grounded in current law and Department for Education guidance
- Constantly updated as guidance and case law changes
- Designed for real working environments, with bite-size sessions, all under 3 minutes long
- Accessible at the point of need
- Suitable for whole-setting professional development
- Clear, practical and never overwhelming
“Rainbow Wise is hands down one of the most engaging and thoughtfully designed online programmes I’ve come across for school staff.
As someone with ADHD, I really appreciate the variety of question types and the ability to dip in and out in bite-sized chunks as it keeps me focused and motivated. The quizzing for retrieval is especially brilliant and the regional accents make it feel personal and relatable. The content is perfectly pitched; clear, concise, and never overwhelming. I’m feeling more confident navigating language associated with gender and sexuality. I’ve already noticed myself correcting my own language with colleagues, which makes me feel well-informed and proud.
A standout moment for me in the training was the explanation of gender identity as it helped me feel safer discussing the topic with my teenage daughter, who actually said it was ‘cool’ I was doing this. That alone made the course worth it. I recommend the programme for educators everywhere who want to support pupils and colleagues from the LGBTQ+ community to be safe at school.”
Nadia Heswtone
FORMER HEADTEACHER, CEO OF DESTINO COACHING AND CO-FOUNDER OF BEYOND TEACHING
QUESTIONS BEFORE YOU GET STARTED?
Rainbow Wise is designed to be accessible whether you are completely new to LGBTQ+ professional development or looking for current, legally grounded training for your whole setting.
Who is your training for?
Rainbow Wise is built for anyone who works with young people in a professional capacity: teachers, tutors, teaching assistants, DSLs, heads of year, support staff, lunchtime supervisors, governors, academy trust and MAT leaders, youth workers, sports coaches, health professionals, social care practitioners, foster carers, peripatetic and supply staff, and drama, music and arts practitioners.
If your role involves working with young people, Rainbow Wise is for you.
School and setting licences cover the whole staff body. Individual access is available for professionals working in any setting.
Do I need any prior knowledge?
No. Rainbow Wise is designed for professionals at every starting point, including those who have had no previous training on LGBTQ+ topics and those who want to update their knowledge in line with current law and guidance.
Is your training suitable for whole teams or individuals?
Both. Rainbow Wise works equally well as a whole-setting professional development programme and as individual access for practitioners working independently.
For schools, trusts and organisations, a whole-setting licence gives every member of staff access to the full platform, including those who are rarely in the room for whole-staff training days: lunchtime supervisors, peripatetic teachers, supply staff, and sports coaches. Completion reporting evidences training across the whole setting.
For individual professionals, personal access gives you the full training at your own pace, with a 12 month licence which can be renewed.
Will this training be suitable for my setting?
Rainbow Wise was built for the full range of settings where professionals work with young people: schools, colleges, academy trusts, MATs, local authorities, youth organisations, sports clubs, health settings, social care, foster care, and national youth organisations.
The training is self-paced and accessible, designed for busy working environments rather than long scheduled sessions. If you are not sure whether Rainbow Wise is right for your setting, get in touch and we will help you find the right option.
Is this relevant if we do not currently have any LGBTQ+ young people in our setting?
Yes.
LGBTQ+ young people exist in every setting. Many are not yet visible. Research consistently shows that a significant proportion of young people identify as LGBTQ+, and many will not disclose this to the adults around them unless they feel safe to do so.
There is also a specific and well-evidenced overlap between LGBTQ+ identity and SEN. Research from the University of Cambridge shows that autistic young people are 8 times more likely to identify as LGBTQ+. In any setting with SEN young people, the relevance of this training is direct.
OFSTED specifically monitors homophobic bullying as part of school inspections. Your ability to demonstrate that staff have completed relevant, current training is a tangible part of your evidence base.
Absence of visibility is not absence of need. The question is not whether there are LGBTQ+ young people in your setting. It is whether the professionals around them are equipped to support them well when they do become visible, or when a situation arises.
Give every professional the confidence to support LGBTQ+ young people well.
Rainbow Wise was built to become what safeguarding training is to child protection: a baseline standard in every setting.
