This video from Sex Matters is a very clear introduction to UK law, best practice, and what parents can do (including about ‘social affirmation’).
The Attorney General, Suella Braverman MP, gave a speech on Wednesday 10th August 2022 to the think-tank Policy Exchange. It was a wide ranging speech which covered human rights law in the round and three specific areas. One of these areas was the teaching of ‘gender ideology’ in schools.
Department for Education Complaint Portal
https://form.education.gov.uk/service/Contact_the_Department_for_Education
More information…
Here we point out the basic expectations that a parent should have of a UK School. The information is presented in the hope that relevant paragraphs can be copied and pasted into letters to schools.
The two main places for in depth resources to help parents concerned about gender ideology in their school are:
Transgender Trend School Resource Pack, 3rd Edition. Printed Version
If you have a child with an incongruent gender identity (i.e. thinks they are transgender), then contact us at Our Duty and we can support you and/or intervene on your behalf.
SPECIFIC Government Guidance
Specific Government guidance for ‘transgender children’ is published by the Commons Library.
Entitled “Provisions to support transgender children in schools” the guidance reflects the government’s understanding at the time of writing in December 2020.
This guidance is, of course, out of date. Consultation on new guidance has been announced (January 2023), but has not yet commenced.
Toilets
The relevant regulation reads:
separate toilet facilities for boys and girls aged 8 years or over are provided except where the toilet facility is provided in a room that can be secured from the inside and that is intended for use by one pupil at a time
ISS Regulation 23A
Government CURRICULUM Guidance
The Department of Education published guidance in September 2020 to help school leaders plan, develop and implement the new statutory relationships, sex and health curriculum.
Plan your relationships, sex and health curriculum
It is worthwhile ascertaining whether your child’s school is familiar with this guidance, specifically:
- “You should not reinforce harmful stereotypes, for instance by suggesting that children might be a different gender based on their personality and interests or the clothes they prefer to wear.”
- “Resources used in teaching about this topic must always be age-appropriate and evidence based.”
- “Materials which suggest that non-conformity to gender stereotypes should be seen as synonymous with having a different gender identity should not be used and you should not work with external agencies or organisations that produce such material.”
- “While teachers should not suggest to a child that their non-compliance with gender stereotypes means that either their personality or their body is wrong and in need of changing, teachers should always seek to treat individual students with sympathy and support.”
Teachers
It is the right of every teacher to be openly gender critical (as upheld in the High Court case for Maya Forstater) – i.e. to reject the idea that someone has a gender identity and to refuse to ‘affirm’ an incongruent gender identity. What does the school do to uphold these rights? Such teachers (who are probably in the majority) are required role models for students suffering gender-related issues. Are there mechanisms in place for those teachers to play a role when a child feels disconnected from their sexed reality?
Can the school provide firm boundaries to help gender-affected students stay connected to the reality of their sex? (firm boundaries are particularly important for children with an ASD diagnosis).
Is the school staff aware that affirming, accepting and acknowledging transgenderism is prejudicial to a child’s health and wellbeing?
Are staff aware that incongruent gender ideation is a significant risk for children with an ASD diagnosis?
What measures are in place to manage this risk and minimize the numbers of children with ASD diagnoses adopting an incongruent gender identity?
Third-Party Guidance
Sadly, many schools have been influenced by organisations which think that transgender identities are to be affirmed and celebrated. Often, schools will be using outdated, harmful, or even unlawful guidance.
Particularly egregious third-party guidance that has no place in UK schools but seems ubiquitous, is provided by:
Stonewall
Allsorts Youth
Bad third-party guidance will often advocate ‘social affirmation’.
Social Affirmation
Social affirmation is the process by which a child who thinks they are transgender and wishes to have a name reflect their incongruent ‘gender identity’ has this accepted and reinforced by the school. This is sometimes called ‘validation’. Names and third-person pronouns are often changed on school records, other children can be told to use the new name and ‘gender identity’ by the school without either the knowledge or permission of the parents.
The nature of socially affirming a transgender identity is such that it reinforces in the child a belief that they are, or can become, the opposite sex. It is known that this conflation of ‘gender identity’ and sex is a deliberate ploy by those who promote these ideas. Many children lack the intellectual capacity to differentiate the two. Children are convinced by peers, both in school and online, that they are the opposite sex and that they must seek opposite sex imitation medicine so that their bodies match their ideation. This is a harmful and dangerous course of action which, while available on the NHS, is an ideological experiment with no clinical need and no reputable evidence to justify it.
Refer to the evidence given to the High Court in Bell vs Tavistock.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
The overriding principle of the UNCRC is to act in the best interests of the child. It is never in a child’s best interest to have an incongruent gender identity.
Article 3 (best interests of the child) The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all decisions and actions that affect children.
The UNCRC is relevant in situations involving a child with an incongruent gender identity, in particular:
Article 7 (birth registration, name, nationality, care)
Every child has the right to be registered at birth, to have a name and nationality, and, as far as possible, to know and be cared for by their parents.
Article 14
Governments must respect the rights and responsibilities of parents to guide their child as they grow up.
Article 36 (other forms of exploitation)
Governments must protect children from all other forms of exploitation, for example the exploitation of children for political activities, by the media or for medical research
Safeguarding best practice
We understand safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children to be defined as:
- protecting children from maltreatment
- preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
- ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
- taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes
Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 requires local authorities to undertake enquiries if they believe a child has suffered significant harm or is likely to suffer significant harm. The acquisition of an incongruent gender identity is itself a significant harm. The likely outcome of social affirmation is that an affected child will suffer further significant harm.
If a child has acquired an incongruent gender identity through coercion or bullying, or as a reaction to their being a social outlier, say due to homosexuality, autism, or a victim of trauma, then reinforcing the incongruent gender identity is itself maltreatment.
Adoption of an incongruent gender identity is an impairment to a child’s mental health and can lead to impairment of their physical health if medicalised.
Care is only safe and effective if it steers children away from avoidable harm.
The best outcome for a child with an incongruent gender identity is to avoid any pathway which results in the medicalisation of their gender identity.
Statutory guidance for schools and colleges on safeguarding children and safer recruitment.
Education Act 1996
The promotion of incongruent gender identities and the rhetoric which surrounds it is often called ‘gender ideology’. The opposing point of view is often called ‘gender critical’. Both worldviews are valid. (Although we would argue that the gender critical position is the one rooted in science and reason). It is the case, therefore, that affirming an incongruent gender identity is a political act.
Section 406 (b) forbids the promotion of partisan political views in the teaching of any subject in the school.
Section 407 imposes a duty to secure balanced treatment of political issues:
“… shall take such steps as are reasonably practicable to secure that where political issues are brought to the attention of pupils […] (a) in attendance at a maintained school, or (b) taking part in extra-curricular activities which are provided or organised for registered pupils at the school by or on behalf of the school, they are offered a balanced presentation of opposing views.”
Human Rights Act 1998
Further protection is afforded to parents who wish to bring up their children free from gender ideology by the Human Rights Act.
Article 8 protects your right to respect for your private life, your family life, your home, and your correspondence.
Article 9 protects freedom of thought, conscience and religion
Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act provides protection against discrimination on a number of ‘protected characteristics’.
One of these protected characteristics is ‘gender reassignment’.
The UK Department for Education (DfE) defines the pupils protected under the characteristic of gender reassignment in the 2010 Act:
Gender reassignment is defined in the Equality Act as applying to anyone who is undergoing, has undergone or is proposing to undergo a process (or part of a process) of reassigning their sex by changing physiological or other attributes. This definition means that in order to be protected under the Act, a pupil will not necessarily have to be undertaking a medical procedure to change their sex but must be taking steps to live in the opposite gender, or proposing to do so
Equality Act 2010
Two of the other protected characteristics are sex and sexual orientation. The protections for sex, in particular, can conflict with with the protections for gender reassignment.
This is clearly very poorly drafted legislation. Nevertheless, it is the current law (and a very good reason why ‘gender’ needs expunging from all statute).
How to handle the complexity of the Equality Act in schools is the subject of a through briefing using the combined wisdom of Sex Matters and Transgender Trend.
Worse, the government guidance on how the Equality Act 2010 applies to schools was written in 2014 and was influenced by GIRES (a lobby group promoting transgenderism).
It is clear that the laws surrounding the transgender phenomenon all need urgent review (and likely repeal). However, this process will be slow. Until the laws make more sense, their shortcomings will have to be shown up through legal challenge and Judicial Review. This is not ideal, it is costly and time-consuming. And as we know, all the while children are being harmed by the transgender craze, there is an overwhelming sense of urgency to put things right.
OFSTED
It is worth knowing that you do not have to wait until an inspection is announced before giving Ofsted feedback on the running of a school. The presence of gender ideology in schools often leads to bullying of quirky kids with some pressurised into becoming transgender. We’d like to put a stop to this. If you have any concerns about the school(s) your children attend, please let Ofsted know using this form: