Teachers call on Education Secretary to stop “dithering” and urgently bring forward guidance on trans issues

WELL over 100 teachers and other education professionals have signed a letter to the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, calling on her to urgently finalise the draft RSHE, trans and safeguarding guidance for schools. The signatories include headteachers, safeguarding leads, lecturers working in teacher training as well as rank-and-file teachers and school governors.

The letter, organised by The Christian Institute, says that because the safeguarding guidance has not yet been finalised, schools are being prevented from “acting on the risk that children who adopt a trans identity might harm themselves”.

The letter goes on to explain that some trans-identifying young people are circumventing the legal ban on puberty-blocking drugs.

It goes on to strongly criticise GenderGP, a private practice that operates from abroad, and its founder Helen Webberly, whose medical licence was revoked by the General Medical Council following a number of complaints at how the former doctor had prescribed puberty blockers and powerful cross-sex hormones to children. The clinic now provides information on how to circumvent the ban, suggesting for example “getting the prescription created in the name of someone who is over 18”. It advertises: “Get gender-altering medications in just 3-5 days.”

The letter says: “Calls to roll back the 2024 changes to KCSIE [safeguarding guidance] must be rejected and consideration should be given to making clear that identifying as trans is sometimes a safeguarding issue where there is a risk it will lead to children self-medicating or breast-binding.

“Similarly, though there was opposition from some quarters to the draft Gender Questioning Children guidance, the Cass Review has considerably strengthened the case for its cautious approach to socially transitioning pupils in schools. Some schools are continuing to operate a policy of automatic ‘affirmation’, sometimes without involving parents. Many schools and teachers are uncertain and disempowered in the absence of this guidance and we urge you to issue it as soon as possible.”

It continues: “The draft RSHE guidance requires schools not to teach ‘gender identity’, but to teach the facts about biological sex in response to questions. It removes inaccurate advice about the Equality Act, and introduces minimum age limits for more sensitive material. Claims that the age restriction inhibits the ability of schools to protect children from sexual abuse are utterly without foundation. The guidance instructs primary schools that they should provide teaching to protect children from sexual abuse and has an exemption to allow schools to address specific issues that have arisen where necessary, even where that would breach the minimum age requirements.”

The letter concludes by urging the Secretary of State to “finalise all three items of draft guidance and issue them without delay”.

John Denning, Head of Education at The Christian Institute, commented: “This letter has been signed by well over a hundred teachers and education professionals. It is asking the Government to urgently publish the final pieces of guidance that will require all schools to ditch the controversial teaching of ‘gender identity’ and focus on the biological facts, as well as protecting children from actions that could cause them lasting harm. This is consistent with the recommendations of the Cass Review, which made clear the importance of what happens in school and stressed the need to take an ‘evidence-based’ approach to gender. Yet following the start of the new term, there is still no sign of the final guidance.”

“This is putting teachers up and down the country in a difficult position and in some cases means they feel disempowered and unable to act against those pushing a highly contested and ideological agenda, in spite of the risks. This has got to stop and the Government has to stop dithering.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:
Guidance
The previous Government proposed three changes to schools guidance on this issue, none of which have been implemented to date.

1. In December 2023, after months of delays, draft guidance for schools on ‘Gender Questioning Children’ was published for consultation, setting out how schools should respond to children who identify as transgender. It recommended a cautious approach. Though roundly condemned by trans activist groups at the time, its approach has since been exonerated by the Cass Report.
2. In May, refreshed guidance on the teaching of Relationships, Sex and Health Education was published for consultation. It forbids schools from promoting transgender ideology – the idea that people have a gender identity that can differ from their sex ‘assigned at birth’ (in fact, biological reality recorded at birth). The guidance also restricts explicit teaching about sexual acts in primary schools, other than in exceptional circumstances. This consultation closed just after the General Election. Final guidance has not been made available in time for the new school year, despite the commitment in the current (2019) version of the guidance that it would be reviewed in 2023.
3. Keeping Children Safe in Education is the main safeguarding guidance for schools, to which schools are required by law to have regard. In September 2022, new paragraphs were inserted in response to Stonewall lobbying which told schools being LGBT is not a safeguarding issue. This inhibits schools from acting on concerns about the welfare of pupils because they are pursuing a trans identity. Hormonal treatments carry significant risks and breast binding can also cause harm. The interim Cass report was clear that social transition in schools is not psychologically neutral. The final report emphasises the importance of schools and recommends urgent clinical input if families are considering letting younger children socially transition at school. In May, the Government published a draft of the 2024-25 version of the guidance, which removed the Stonewall phrases and added paragraphs consistent with the Cass Report and the (still not finalised) ‘Gender Questioning Children’ guidance. On 2 September, the new Government issued this guidance for the start of term, but despite now being finalised guidance, the relevant section contains a note saying it remains under review (see page 55).

Just before the election, the previous Government issued emergency legislation banning the prescription of puberty blockers to children, even if the prescription was obtained from a private clinic. A challenge to this decision failed in the High Court. The Labour Government has now extended this ban.

The Cass Report explains that adopting a trans identity in school before puberty creates anxiety as puberty approaches that the developmental changes will reveal their biological sex. This drives the demand for puberty blockers, about which there are serious health concerns. It reports that there is no evidence that puberty blockers are of benefit, but that early social transition could alter a person’s long-term identification. It says the importance of what happens in school cannot be underestimated.