For the first time, a Catholic schools network is rolling out an alternative to Safe Schools which it believes will train teachers to stamp out homophobia and transphobia.

Edmund Rice Education Australia has distributed resources to its 52 schools and will soon run training to help teachers create a safer and more inclusive environment for gay and transgender students and LGBTI families.

Edmund Rice schools are hoping to create a safer and more inclusive environment.

The training material states that children may have a sense of their sexual orientation in early primary school and teachers must support them so they can develop "a positive self-identity".

The organisation's executive director, Wayne Tinsey, said the Catholic education sector and church had been "silent" for too long.