Teachers don’t have to address pupils in chosen pronouns under government’s new schools transgender guidance
Teachers in England have been told they do not have to address pupils in their chosen pronouns under new government guidance on how best to support transgender students.
The draft document, released by the Department of Education, was meant to be published before the summer holidays, but was delayed to ensure it met the “high expectations” of teachers and parents.
It states that children, teachers or staff at a school should “not be required to adopt the use of preferred pronouns”.
In the absence of preferred pronouns, the child’s preferred name should be used, with schools having a duty to ensure bullying is never tolerated.
The guidance also states that schools and colleges do not have to, and should not, accept all requests for social transition.
Social transitioning relates to a pupil requesting to change pronouns, names and uniform.
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‘I socially transitioned at school’
“Proper use of this guidance means social transition, in practice, should be extremely rare when the appropriate safeguards are put in place and the child’s best interest taken into account,” the draft states.
Where a school considers a request, the draft states a “cautious approach” should be taken, including ensuring parents are fully consulted before any decision is taken.
Other main points from the draft guidance include:
• Schools should make sure competitive sport is fair for all students, which will almost always mean separate sports for boys and girls;
• Schools must provide sex-separated toilets for students aged eight and over and suitable changing accommodation and showers for pupils aged 11 and over;
• Single-sex schools can refuse to admit pupils of the opposite biological sex, regardless of whether they are questioning their gender;
• A gender questioning child should wear the same uniform standard as other children of their sex;
• Sleeping arrangements like dormitories, tents and shared rooms should be sex separated.
The draft is non-statutory, with parents and teachers now urged to have their say in a 12-week consultation.
On Tuesday, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said the draft puts the “best interests of all children first, removing any confusion about the protections that must be in place for biological sex and single-sex spaces”.
She said it makes clear that safety and safeguarding for all children must always be schools’ primary concern.
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‘Issue of gender has gone in our school’
Speaking to reporters, Kemi Badenoch, minister for women and equalities, added: “This is comprehensive guidance. It can’t be the case that teachers have a lot of leeway, and we’re also forcing them to tell parents.
“What we are doing is making sure that for those schools who are very confused about what to do, and are getting very bad advice from organisations like Stonewall among others, understand what the government believes should be done.”
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Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT said on initial look, the draft proposals “leave a lot of questions unanswered”, leaving school leaders in “incredibly difficult” positions.
He said the union will be reviewing the draft proposals and will submit a response to the government’s consultation on behalf of members.
Confederation of School Trusts chief executive Leora Cruddas, concerned at the timing of the release of the document, said: “This will make it very challenging to respond to any concerns felt by pupils, parents and staff until schools return in the new year.”
A spokesperson for Mermaids, a transgender youth support charity, said the guidance was “unworkable, out of touch and absurd”.
The spokesperson said: “Rather than listening to trans young people and reflecting best practice of inclusive educators across the UK, the Government has created more confusion for schools and is putting young people at risk.”
‘Does not go far enough’
But in an early indication of potential unease about the measures on the right of the Conservative party, former prime minister Liz Truss said the guidance “does not go far enough”.
She called for a change in the law rather than non-statutory guidance.
Ms Truss said: “I fear that activists and others will be able to exploit loopholes in the guidance and the existing legal framework to pursue their agenda, leaving children at risk of making irreversible changes and with single-sex spaces not sufficiently protected.”
The former prime minister called on government to back her Health and Equality Acts (Amendment) Bill, which she first put to parliament on 6 December.
Under the proposed bill, social transitioning would not be recognised by schools or the state in children, and puberty blockers and hormone treatment for gender dysphoria would be banned for under-18s.
Speaking ahead of the publication of the draft, the prime minister’s spokesperson said it was a “complex area” and it was right to “take the time to get this right”.
In 2019, nine men were jailed for raping and abusing two teenage girls living in a children’s home in Bradford.
One of the victims, Fiona Goddard, says more than 50 men raped her.
When the government began to talk about offering councils money for local inquiries, Fiona hoped Bradford would be one of the first to take up the offer. But there didn’t seem to be much enthusiasm.
The council was quick to point out that there had already been an independent case review into Fiona’s case, along with four other victims.
This, then, was Fiona’s first reasoning for wanting a national inquiry: The council felt it had done all that needed to be done. Fiona didn’t.
The Independent review, published in July 2021, found that while in the children’s home, Fiona “went missing almost on a daily basis”. The police attitude was that she could look after herself – she was “street-wise”.
There was “agreement by all agencies that Fiona was either at risk of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) or actively being sexually abused and exploited”. But “this was not addressed by any single agency”.
And “when Fiona became pregnant at the age of 15, there was little curiosity or enquiry who the father was”.
So, obvious failings were discovered.
The predictable response was that lessons had been learned and new processes put in place. But no one seemed to be held accountable.
Grooming gangs timeline: What happened, what inquiries there were and how Starmer was involved
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Grooming gangs: What happened?
Ms Goddard told Sky News: “In my serious case review she [Jane Booth, the independent chair] found seven incidences at least, in them records that she found, of them not reporting sexual abuse or rape or assault, from as young as eight years old, and one of the incidences I literally turned up covered in blood and they didn’t report it.
“That is not just misunderstanding a crime, that is making intentional decisions not to report the sexual abuse of a child.”
She adds: “Let’s not forget, these people still work within social services and the police force.”
Not only did this Independent review not satisfy Fiona, but it also didn’t begin to reflect the levels and scale of abuse Fiona had experienced outside of Bradford.
‘I literally turned up covered in blood and they didn’t report it,’ Fiona says
Asked where she was trafficked to, Fiona rattles off a list of cities.
“Blackburn, Rotherham, Rochdale, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Oldham – never Telford, I’d never even heard of Telford until it all came out if I’m honest – Nottingham, Oxford.”
Then she remembers she didn’t go to Oxford – men from Oxford came to her – but the point is made.
Local enquiries can’t possibly begin to explore the networks of men who traffic women, often down routes of drug trafficking being done by the same gangs.
Bradford Council told Sky News it contributed to the national Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and published more than 70 reports where child sexual exploitation was discussed and has implemented findings from the independent local review which included Fiona’s case.
Fiona believes there are numerous connections leading back to Bradford – but victims from each city often believe their abusers are at the centre of it.
We’ve spoken to grooming victims across the country, and in 2022, a case was reopened in Humberside after a Sky News investigation, where we found diary entries, texts, photos, and school reports all indicating that teenage victims had been abused.
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One of them was “Anna”, who also wants a national inquiry. She believes there is a national pattern of police forces not believing victims or even criminalising them instead.
Obtaining her own police records using a Subject Access Request (SAR), Anna found officers’ attitudes towards her were similar to what we heard with Fiona in Bradford, blaming her abuse and injuries on “lifestyle choices of her own”.
Anna said: “Every time I look at my Subject Access Request, I still think it’s shocking.
“It was the same sort of terminology – lifestyle choices, liar, attention seeker, and the majority of it was negative.
“It was really rare that I’d come across something where they were actually listening or they were concerned.”
Humberside Police told us: “As the investigation is active, it is imperative we protect its integrity; as such are unable to comment on aspects of the investigation as this could impact or jeopardise any criminal or judicial proceedings.”
But it is years now since Anna first reported her abuse, and she believes the police have left it too late to gather evidence.
She told Sky News: “I think it’s either happening everywhere, or young people have been taken everywhere.
“I think the attitudes of the professionals, the police, social services, from what I’ve heard and seen, they seem very similar in every area.”
The government-commissioned rapid review by Baroness Casey is due to be published next week and is expected to call for a national inquiry into grooming gangs.
Like Anna and Fiona, many victims will welcome Sir Keir Starmer’s early response accepting the recommendation.
They will want the inquiry to probe into the operations of the perpetrators – who they are and how they are connected.
But they will also want clear accountability of the people and organisations who failed to act when they reported their abuse – and an understanding of why, so often, authorities fail to protect these vulnerable girls.
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