On 19th December 2023, the UK Government published its draft of ‘Gender Questioning Children’, its non-statutory guidance for schools and colleges in England.
The Beaumont Society is reminding teachers, headteachers and school governors that this is just a draft for consultation and you are encouraged to submit your comments. Even if it is confirmed by the Government, it will still only be guidance – not statutory.
The Beaumont Society has many reservations about this document. Clearly no trans people were involved in its creation – indeed it would appear to have been written entirely by people with no accurate knowledge of the lives of trans people.
1967, the government of the day published a thick document ‘Children and their Primary Schools’ – more commonly known as the Plowden Report (named after the Chair of the committee that produced the report.) It began with the words: ” At the heart of the educational process lies the child.” Sadly, the Gender Questioning Children document puts the children affected by its recommendations on the periphery, not at its heart.
There is no evidence that any gender questioning children were asked what support they needed at school. Surely this should have been where this process began.
We are told that ‘where a child requests action from a school or college in relation to a degree of social transition, the school should engage parents as a matter of priority’, but surely if a child felt safe at home they would not need to come out at school. Ideally, of course, parents should be involved but, sadly, not all children have ideal parents.
What is particularly harmful, is that schools are encouraged to ignore their students’ wishes, to misgender them, deadname them and ‘out’ them to their parents. Yet in an early paragraph we are told (quite rightly) that ‘Schools and colleges should be respectful and tolerant places where bullying is never tolerated’. This protection against bullying does not extend to trans children and students, apparently.
We do not believe that this guidance is consistent with the provisions of the Equality Act of 2010 and if schools were to adopt the guidance as it stands they would leave themselves open to litigation. It is a shoddy, misinformed and discriminatory document that is not fit for purpose. If it were to be adopted it would not just harm trans children, it would damage cis children as well. Anyone who cares about the education of our children – all our children – should respond to the consultation before the closing date of 12th March 2024.