6 hours ago
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Labour opens door to trans children in primary schools: Government could allow pupils as young as FOUR to 'fully transition' to opposite gender
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...chool.html
EXCERPTS: Labour opened the door on Thursday to primary school children changing their gender. Long-awaited trans guidance for schools finally arrived, having been watered down from previous Tory proposals.
Instructions drawn up by now Tory leader Kemi Badenoch forbade primary schools from changing pupils’ pronouns. But the Government’s guidance has scrapped the ban, instead saying those as young as four should be allowed ‘full social transition’ to the opposite gender, albeit in ‘rare’ circumstances.
Other sections have been deleted, including edicts that secondary pupils should change their pronouns only on ‘very few occasions’, that no teacher or pupil should be compelled to use the new pronouns and that teachers should not be stopped from saying ‘boys and girls’.
On Thursday, campaigners said the guidance puts pupils at risk by encouraging the ‘dangerous fairytale’ that children changing gender is possible.
Tory education spokesman Laura Trott said: ‘Primary school children should not be navigating changes in pronouns at all. But shockingly Labour’s guidance opens the door to children as young as four being referred to in a way that does not reflect their biological sex.’
The Department for Education guidance on ‘gender-questioning children’, which is subject to consultation, will eventually be backed by law. It has been backed by Dr Hilary Cass, who carried out the 2024 independent review of NHS gender identity services for children, which led to a ban on puberty blockers for under-18s.
[...] Maya Forstater, the chief executive of Sex Matters, said: ‘Schools are still being left with the idea that they can facilitate “social transition” – which remains undefined – and that they should negotiate this on a case-by-case basis.
‘They are being encouraged to think that children have a “birth sex” as well as some other concept of sex. This has no basis in law or reality, and undermines safeguarding.
‘It should be clear by now that allowing children and parents to think that a child who starts their education as a girl can graduate as a boy or vice versa is a dangerous fairy tale.’
Stephanie Davies-Arai, the founder of Transgender Trend, which advocates for an evidence-based approach towards children, added: ‘No child should be compelled to call a boy “she” or a girl “he”. It is other children who are expected to socially transition a classmate by using their “preferred pronouns” and this is a wholly inappropriate demand of any child.’
In common with the draft version, the new document also says girls’ toilets and changing facilities must remain female-only. It says that if gender-questioning pupils do not want to use the facilities designed for their sex, they should be provided with an alternative.,, (MORE - missing details)
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Parents should be consulted when children question gender identity, schools told
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho...19492.html
INTRO: Parents should be involved in the “vast majority” of cases where a child questions their gender, new government guidance for teachers says. Schools should seek parents’ views unless there is any reason not to, as well as always considering any clinical advice families have received, it also states.
The Department for Education has set out proposals in legally binding guidelines on how schools should support any children questioning their gender.
Schools must maintain single-sex spaces, the draft document says, and there should be no sharing of toilets for children over eight or mixed-sex sleeping arrangements on trips. The guidance also warns there are no exceptions to single-sex facilities at schools and colleges, including toilets and changing rooms. Single-sex sports must also be protected.
But schools have been given some flexibility over how they deal with issues such as children’s names and uniforms.
Teachers should not initiate steps towards social transitioning – when pupils change their name, pronoun or clothes to reflect their gender identity – but should instead consider carefully what other support a child might need. A child's birth sex must be recorded in school and college records, the guidance says.
The new guidance has been influenced by the recommendations of Dr Hilary Cass, who carried out a review of gender services for young people, and who backed the new advice... (MORE - details)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...chool.html
EXCERPTS: Labour opened the door on Thursday to primary school children changing their gender. Long-awaited trans guidance for schools finally arrived, having been watered down from previous Tory proposals.
Instructions drawn up by now Tory leader Kemi Badenoch forbade primary schools from changing pupils’ pronouns. But the Government’s guidance has scrapped the ban, instead saying those as young as four should be allowed ‘full social transition’ to the opposite gender, albeit in ‘rare’ circumstances.
Other sections have been deleted, including edicts that secondary pupils should change their pronouns only on ‘very few occasions’, that no teacher or pupil should be compelled to use the new pronouns and that teachers should not be stopped from saying ‘boys and girls’.
On Thursday, campaigners said the guidance puts pupils at risk by encouraging the ‘dangerous fairytale’ that children changing gender is possible.
Tory education spokesman Laura Trott said: ‘Primary school children should not be navigating changes in pronouns at all. But shockingly Labour’s guidance opens the door to children as young as four being referred to in a way that does not reflect their biological sex.’
The Department for Education guidance on ‘gender-questioning children’, which is subject to consultation, will eventually be backed by law. It has been backed by Dr Hilary Cass, who carried out the 2024 independent review of NHS gender identity services for children, which led to a ban on puberty blockers for under-18s.
[...] Maya Forstater, the chief executive of Sex Matters, said: ‘Schools are still being left with the idea that they can facilitate “social transition” – which remains undefined – and that they should negotiate this on a case-by-case basis.
‘They are being encouraged to think that children have a “birth sex” as well as some other concept of sex. This has no basis in law or reality, and undermines safeguarding.
‘It should be clear by now that allowing children and parents to think that a child who starts their education as a girl can graduate as a boy or vice versa is a dangerous fairy tale.’
Stephanie Davies-Arai, the founder of Transgender Trend, which advocates for an evidence-based approach towards children, added: ‘No child should be compelled to call a boy “she” or a girl “he”. It is other children who are expected to socially transition a classmate by using their “preferred pronouns” and this is a wholly inappropriate demand of any child.’
In common with the draft version, the new document also says girls’ toilets and changing facilities must remain female-only. It says that if gender-questioning pupils do not want to use the facilities designed for their sex, they should be provided with an alternative.,, (MORE - missing details)
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Parents should be consulted when children question gender identity, schools told
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho...19492.html
INTRO: Parents should be involved in the “vast majority” of cases where a child questions their gender, new government guidance for teachers says. Schools should seek parents’ views unless there is any reason not to, as well as always considering any clinical advice families have received, it also states.
The Department for Education has set out proposals in legally binding guidelines on how schools should support any children questioning their gender.
Schools must maintain single-sex spaces, the draft document says, and there should be no sharing of toilets for children over eight or mixed-sex sleeping arrangements on trips. The guidance also warns there are no exceptions to single-sex facilities at schools and colleges, including toilets and changing rooms. Single-sex sports must also be protected.
But schools have been given some flexibility over how they deal with issues such as children’s names and uniforms.
Teachers should not initiate steps towards social transitioning – when pupils change their name, pronoun or clothes to reflect their gender identity – but should instead consider carefully what other support a child might need. A child's birth sex must be recorded in school and college records, the guidance says.
The new guidance has been influenced by the recommendations of Dr Hilary Cass, who carried out a review of gender services for young people, and who backed the new advice... (MORE - details)
