Children’s Safety ‘Compromised’ Over Spread of ‘Extreme Gender Ideology’ in Most Schools: Report

A demonstrators wears a transgender flag face covering during the Trans Activism UK "British Bigotry Corporation: Platforming Hate Is Not Impartial" protest at BBC Broadcasting House, in London, England, on Jan. 8, 2022. (Hollie Adams/Getty Images)

Safeguarding principles are being routinely disregarded due to the spread of “extreme gender ideology” in schools, according to a new report by a conservative think tank.

In its latest paper published on Thursday (pdf) the London-based Policy Exchange think tank said that most secondary schools are failing to tell parents if their child wants to identify as another gender.

Writing in its foreword for the “Asleep at the Wheel” report, Conservative MP Miriam Cates said that the protection of children from “political indoctrination is foundational to democratic society, and yet this report shows that we are currently failing to protect a whole generation of children from the destructive effects of extreme gender ideology.”

Cates has previously highlighted that the RSHE framework has opened the “floodgates to a whole host of external providers who offer sex education materials to schools.”

‘Entrenched Within the Education System’

Labour MP Rosie Duffield, co-patron of Policy Exchange’s Biology Matters Project, said the report “exposes the reality” that this ideology is widespread across secondary schools.

“This government has failed children by allowing partisan beliefs to become entrenched within the education system. Meanwhile, the opposition has failed to pull them up on it,” she added.

Duffield has been outspoken about women’s single-sex spaces and has criticised Scotland’s Gender Reform Bill.

Freedom of information (FoI) requests were submitted to 304 secondary schools in England in December last year, and 154 schools responded, either fully or in part, to questions asked by the think tank about gender policies.

The FoIs revealed that at least 28 percent of secondary schools are not maintaining single-sex toilets, and 19 percent are not maintaining single-sex changing rooms. It added that 60 percent of secondary schools are allowing children to participate in sports of the opposite sex.

It also found that schools are not reliably informing parents as soon as a pupil expresses the wish to change gender. This means that because of a school’s “Self-ID” policy, the first time a parent is informed of their child’s transition is on a letter home, where the child’s new name is referenced.

Only 28 percent of parents are reliably informed when a child expresses feelings of gender distress at school.

One example found that one school mistakenly referenced the Equality Act 2010 (EA) as justification for not informing parents of a pupil’s wish to change gender.

“While many schools stated that they would encourage students to talk to their parents, there is a clear consensus that schools should be wholly led by the feelings and wishes of the child,” it wrote.

Safeguarding Blindspot

The report concluded: “Our research reveals there to be a safeguarding blind spot when it comes to the issue of sex and gender.

“Safeguarding principles are being routinely disregarded in many secondary schools, which are neglecting their safeguarding responsibilities and principles in favour of a set of contested beliefs, in ways that risk jeopardising child wellbeing and safety.

“In doing so, schools are compromising both the law and statutory safeguarding guidance,” it said.

Alka Sehgal Cuthbert is an educator and the director of the organisation Don’t Divide Us.

The organisation recently launched a petition to highlight that “unproven assertions” about race, as well as gender and sex, are being introduced into schools.

“The best way for safeguarding children is for adults to be responsible enough to say no and take the flak, even if there will be outrage from people,” Cuthbert told The Epoch Times.

“When you are a teacher you come into school and my job is to teach you,” she added.

“We really need to push very hard on this because it’s really lost,” said Cuthbert.

She said that by focusing on “social engineering,” the education profession “has lost its moral compass and has lost any kind of professional confidence in itself as educators.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak departs 10 Downing Street to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, in London, on March 22, 2023. (Victoria Jones/PA Media)

Government Guidance

A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said: “We are clear that schools should make sure they work with parents, pupils, and public services to decide what is best for individual children.

“Parents have a right to view teaching materials and copyright law does not prevent a parent from viewing external resources on school premises.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told broadcasters on Thursday that he was “very concerned about these reports.” He also pledged that government guidance for schools in relation to transgender issues will be published “for the summer term.”

“For me, the safety and wellbeing of our children is of paramount importance. And I’ve also been clear that parents must be able to know what is being taught to their kids in school, especially on these sensitive areas,” he said.

“That’s why we’re already reviewing the RSE (relationships and sex education) guidance to make sure that it is age appropriate for children.

“But also what I’m also going to say today is that for the summer term we will make sure that we publish guidance for schools so that they know how to respond when children are asking about their gender,” he added.

PA Media contributed to this report.