Updated government guidance on how schools should deal with children who identify as transgender has received a mixed response from The Christian Institute (CI).
While the CI welcomed guidance stating that biological males should be kept out of female-only spaces - and vice versa - and the stipulation that a child must not be helped to transition without their parent’s knowledge or involvement, the group took issue with schools facilitating transitioning at all.
Under the guidance children in both primary and secondary schools will receive support to live as their chosen gender. However, before students are permitted to start their new lives, the school must consider any available clinical evidence.
The guidance states that “social transition should be viewed as an active intervention that may have significant effects on the child or young person in terms of their psychological functioning and longer-term outcomes”.
It also mentions the findings of the Cass Review, which found that children who socially transition before puberty or before receiving clinical advice, were more likely to undergo medical transition at a later date.
The guidance states, “The Cass Review emphasised that clinical involvement in the decision-making process should include advising on the risks and benefits of social transition as a planned intervention, referencing best available evidence. This is not a role that can be undertaken by staff without appropriate clinical training.”
Schools are encouraged to consider whether a child claiming to be transgender may be under other influences, for example experiencing health problems or being neurodiverse.
Given the findings of the Cass Review, primary schools in particular are told that supporting social transitioning should be exceptionally rare.
John Denning, Head of Education at the CI, said, “Social transition is the co-opting of the school to affirm an untruth about a child’s sex, encouraging the child to reject the reality of their body. It can never be in the child’s best interest nor is it appropriate for schools to do it.
"Pupils should be able to trust that teachers are doing their best to be guides to truth, not falsehood.”
He continued, “It’s welcome that this guidance now guarantees single-sex spaces, ensures parents aren’t shut out of decision making, and prevents coercion of individuals against their conscience. But the Government should be taking a lead to protect children and the integrity of schools from this profoundly harmful ideology. The guidance should forbid schools from supporting social transition all together.”
