Afraid of upsetting its dominant liberal wing and uninterested in changing the law, Rishi Sunak’s government has left it to schools to make tough decisions on pupils identifying as the opposite sex.
The Times says that educational leaders will be told in new guidance that pupils “should” only be allowed to act as though they are the opposite sex at school “in limited circumstances.” It appears as though schools will be left to assess these “limited circumstances” themselves and to battle around the meaningless word “should,” leaving them open to legal challenges.
Ministers were considering banning pupils from changing their gender identities in schools altogether, but decided against this after being told that doing so would be unlawful. They could have set about changing the law, but they have opted for handing schools responsibility for the issue instead.
This is despite the government’s own acknowledgement that “any degree of social transition could have significant consequences for a child.”
Responding to details of the upcoming guidance, Maya Forstater of the campaign group Sex Matters told The Times:
[Ministers] are passing the legal risk down to the schools rather than … just saying, “Here are some clear, hard lines.”
It leaves the door open for activist parents, or very unhappy children, to try to negotiate, which is exactly what schools don’t need. They need clear guidance.
The Family Education Trust research institute said that it agrees with this assessment.
Schools have been demanding clear guidance from ministers on this issue since reports earlier this year suggested that parents were not being informed about their own gender-questioning children. It now appears that the already delayed guidance, a new draft of which should be published before the end of the year, will only succeed in further muddying the waters.
This Conservative government, like those that came before it, has been just as weak on the question of sex education. The return of Blair-inspired liberal David Cameron means there is little-to-no chance of change here either.
