Schools Have No General Duty to Allow Gender ‘Social Transition’: Draft UK Guidance

The guidance said parents should be involved except when there’s ‘a significant risk of harm’ and primary school pupils shouldn’t be allowed to change pronouns.

Students take a break between classes at Park Lane Academy in Halifax, northwest England on March 17, 2021. Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images

Schools and colleges in England have no general duty to allow children to “socially transition” and parents should be informed of such requests with few exceptions, the government said on Tuesday.

In a draft guidance published for consultation, the Department for Education (DfE) also said schools “must always protect single-sex spaces with regard to toilets, showers and changing rooms.”

The “significant increase” in the number of children question their gender in recent years is linked to the gender identity ideology, or the “contested belief” that a person can have a that is different to their biological sex, the guidance said.

The DfE clarified that schools and colleges have specific legal duties that are framed by a child’s biological sex, and statutory duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children.

Social transitioning is a set of actions “such as changing names, uniforms, or using different facilities to help a child appear more like the opposite sex, with the expectation that they will be treated as if they are.”

The guidance came after top paediatrician Dr. Hilary Cass, who’s reviewing NHS England’s gender identity services for children and young people, said in her interim report that “early social transition” should be viewed as an “active intervention” rather than “a neutral act” because “it may have significant effects on the child or young person in terms of their psychological functioning.”

In the draft guidance, the DfE said schools and colleges “should not proactively initiate action towards a child’s social transition.”

If a child explicitly requests such changes, parents or guardians should be involved except in the “very rare situation where informing parents might raise a significant risk of harm to the child,” the guidance said.

If a child questions his or her gender without requesting change, teachers can “listen respectfully” without “automatically alerting parents” but “cannot promise confidentiality” for safeguarding reasons, the guidance said.

‘Watchful Waiting’

Schools and colleges are told they should engage in a period of “watchful waiting” before considering a request to transition, and if the child still wants to be treated as the opposite sex after a while, schools and colleges should take into consideration a number of factors such as the child’s age, the parents’ view, the seriousness and context of the request, relevant clinical information, the long- and short-term impact on the child, the impact on other pupils, and the school or college’s safeguarding obligations.

“Primary school aged children should not have different pronouns to their sex-based pronouns used about them,” the guidance said.

For older children, schools and colleges are told they should only agree to a change of pronouns if they are “confident that the benefit to the individual child outweighs the impact on the school community.”

Members of staff are told they should not unilaterally adopt any changes, including using a new name or new pronouns, “unless or until this has been agreed by the school or college in accordance with the proper procedures and, in the vast majority of cases, parental consent.”

The name and sex of every child must be recorded in the admissions register, and in the rare cases where social transition is agreed, all relevant staff must be made aware of the child’s biological sex.

While bullying is not allowed, schools are told they must respect the beliefs of staff and parents that conflict with the school’s decision and not compel anyone to use the name or pronoun preferred by a socially-transitioned student.

In relation to single-sex spaces, all children should use the toilets, showers, and changing facilities designated for their biological sex unless it will cause distress for them to do so.

“In these instances, schools and colleges should seek to find alternative arrangements, while continuing to ensure spaces are single-sex,” the guidance said.

The DfE said an alternative facility should be secured from the inside and for use by one child at a time, including for hand washing, and arrangements “should not compromise the safety, comfort, privacy or dignity of the child, or of other pupils.”

In terms of sports, school are told a more relaxed approach can be taken for early primary age children, but they need to ensure the safety and fairness in sports for older boys and girls who are different in “size, speed, and strength.”

Schools are also told they won’t be expected to change uniform rules to accommodate gender questioning students and single-sex schools can refuse to admit pupils of the other biological sex, regardless of whether the child is questioning their gender.

The consultation will run until March 12, 2024.