Schools Minister: ‘Children should not be taught politically contested views as fact’

The Minister of State for Schools has reminded schools in England of their legal duty to be politically impartial in their teaching and in extra-curricular activities.

Responding to a question from Miriam Cates MP, Nick Gibb MP stated that Department for Education guidance is “very clear that when teaching about sensitive political issues relating to discrimination teachers should be mindful of avoiding the promotion of partisan views or presenting contested theories as fact”.

The guidance, which was published last year, explains the legal requirements relating to political impartiality in schools.

‘Age-appropriate’

Gibb added: “Schools need to ensure that any resources used in the classroom, particularly those produced by an external organisation, are age-appropriate, suitable and politically impartial. Schools should consult parents and share lesson materials when parents ask to see them.”

Schools should consult parents and share lesson materials when parents ask to see them.

But Cates highlighted a YouGov poll revealing that “the majority of UK children are being taught political ideology as fact in school”, demonstrating that “the guidance is not working”.

She warned that children are being taught that they can be “born in the wrong body and men can have babies”, and highlighted a document which encourages teachers of pupils with learning disabilities to perform sexually provocative moves in class in the name of “sex positivity”.

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‘Extreme trans ideology’

In December, a Church of England primary school came under fire for pushing “extreme transgender ideology” on children as young as eight years old.

Parents Kevin and Nicola Watts temporarily withdrew their three children from St Michael’s Church of England primary school in Tenterden, Kent, after discovering that teachers had shown their eight-year-old daughter a video on the book ‘It Feels Good to be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity’.

The trans-activist resource teaches children that when they were born people “made a guess” whether they were a boy or a girl, since their bodies are only a “clue”.

Department for Education guidance states:“Schools should not under any circumstances work with, or use materials produced by, external agencies that take extreme political positions on these matters. This is the case even if the material itself is not extreme, as the use of it could imply endorsement or support of the organisation…Materials which suggest that non-conformity to gender stereotypes should be seen as synonymous with having a different gender identity should not be used and you should not work with external agencies or organisations that produce such material”.

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