November 21, 2024
By Linda Sulzen
The English government published non-statutory guidance for schools including colleges about children who question gender. The roll out of the guidelines were delayed because of a change in government and are still being finalized. Because of polarization a review was done in 2020 by Dr. Cass to examine the use of puberty blockers and masculinizing or feminizing young children; the results of the Cass Review suggested that most children who presented with gender incongruence when they were young desisted by puberty age.
The Cass Review further stated that there could be other influences on children leading to gender incongruence to include, autism, social media, and peers. The response to the Cass Review from the Conservative government was to pass temporary emergency legislation to ban puberty blockers unless they were part of a clinical trial; the ban is set to expire on November 26, 2024. The Cass Review influenced the new school policy in England.
In May the UK government website published the Conservative Administration’s Relationship and Sex Education Guidance for Primary and Secondary schools which will be statutory unless exceptions are made. The English Prime Minister and Secretary of Education reviewed the curriculum after reports of inappropriate content that had been taught in some schools and updates were made to include:
- Age limits of when to teach sensitive subjects.
- The concept of identity to be made clear: “the sense a person may have of their own gender, whether male, female or a number of other categories – is highly contested and should not be taught.”
- Facts about biological sex and gender reassignment will be taught and…
- Parents will have transparency with respect to legal rights to know what their children are taught in RSHE; they can request the lesson materials to review.
Not everyone is accepting of the Conservative policies in education; in October an article was published by Transgender Trend that expressed concerns about not just children with gender confusion but children of trans parents and how school policies in the U.K. affect them, they said,…
“We are concerned that schools’ unquestioning celebration of ‘Pride’ and all things trans-related is harmful and distressing to children of trans parents who may be facing considerable challenges at home. We need schools to be a safe place from any ideology. The ‘Pride’ lanyards and posters can feel like an extension of coercion. Teachers reinforcing the ‘transwomen are women’ or ‘you can be born in the wrong body’ narratives destabilise trust in the school, and reinforce the idea that there is no authority you can turn to if your trans parent is abusive.”
In spite of the new educational guidelines, upwards of about three quarters of England’s school teachers from 600 school’s examined were socially transitioning student’s without informing their student’s parents which was a misinterpretation of sex and gender laws. According to the CARE article, “one educational trust advised Church of England primary schools…to support girls using breast binders during school trips and to allocate sleeping arrangements based on students’ self-identified ‘gender identity.’” Conservative teacher Miriam Cates said the research was concerning because it showed that many schools have policies that are not conforming to the law or safeguarding children. A spokesman for the Department of Education expressed that,
“…we are absolutely clear about the importance of biological sex, particularly in the context of safeguarding, and the role parents must play in decisions about their children…Schools and colleges are expected to follow all guidance issued by the Government, whether it is statutory or not…Our guidance is clear that in nearly every case schools should not support the social transition of primary aged children, including not using pronouns that do not align with the child’s sex.”
Teenage transgender activists in the United Kingdom set up an encampment outside of the London headquarters of the Department of Education to demand protections for trans students according to Trans Kids Deserve Better in August. The advocates said they wanted safe schools and have hosted craft days, dinners and drag shows. In September Ilga Europe put out a “Joint Statement: Trans Children and Young People in Schools Deserve Safety and Understanding,” in which they outline concerns of trans children in England being targeted by what they say are exclusionary policies in education.
England published their ‘legally binding’ guidance on September 2, entitled, “Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024.” Some of the worries surrounding the guidelines were that trans people could lose their rights, harmful stereotypes would be perpetuated, transphobia and bullying would ensue and that safeguarding trans children and their identity would not happen.
There are other organizations that have different views of the new school policies in England; the Catholic News agency published a statement from Education Secretary Gillian Keegan that said the proposal, “puts protecting children at its heart, and enshrines parents’ right to know what their children are being taught.” They furthermore expressed that Christian Concern and the Christian Legal Centre of London gave their support for the school guidelines and communicated the following;
“We are glad and relieved that primary school children will now be protected from such lessons,” CLC Chief Executive Andrea Williams said in a statement. “But this must only be a beginning. So much harm has been done and so much confusion sown. Schools must return to their Christian roots and the biblical beliefs on identity and sexual ethics, which set children and stable families up for life.”
Among the countries in the United Kingdom so far Northern Ireland has adopted similar school policies to those of England when it comes to sex education in schools. NI is taking steps to get transgender ideology out of schools and they have removed a statement in their sex education guidance that said children as young as three years old could be transgender. They plan to make further changes and are reviewing the Cass Report.
