Scottish teachers fear the sack over trans school arrangements

Scottish teachers are concerned that they may be sacked if they question how their school deals with a child who says they are transgender.

The Scottish Catholic Education Service (SCES), which establishes policy on behalf of the Roman Catholic Bishops of Scotland, submitted its comments in response to a consultation on changing the Gender Recognition Act.

The organisation conveyed teachers’ increasing concern that their professional recognition could be withdrawn if they queried “processes and recommendations” regarding a pupil’s desire to be treated as if they were the opposite sex.

Young children

SCES explained: “Experience within our schools has been that pre-pubescent children are being actively encouraged to change name, pronoun and uniform and schools are being asked to make adjustments in accordance with this. These changes are being recommended for children as early as primary one.”

pre-pubescent children are being actively encouraged to change name, pronoun and uniform

It added: “School staff are reporting that when they seek advice from their local authority they are inevitably being told to accommodate requests, even if these are based solely on the desire of parents, children or partner agencies and not on medical decisions.”

In response to concerns about the potential removal of professional recognition, a spokeswoman for the General Teaching Council for Scotland stated that “we only investigate where an allegation is of a level of seriousness that the teacher presents a risk of harm.”

Legal sex

The Scottish Government has been under fire since announcing its intention to introduce a Bill which would make it much easier for people to change legal sex.

Under the current law, adults can change legal sex if they have the agreement of two doctors, have lived as if they were the opposite sex for at least two years and make a statutory declaration of their intention to do so for the rest of their life.

The Bill is expected to remove the need for any medical evidence, reduce the two-year period to three months and extend sex swaps to 16-year-olds.

New Scottish Government guidance for schools was also slammed by critics for promoting transgender ideology, eroding the rights of parents and using unreliable statistics in its resource.