DfE Consultation: ‘Gender Questioning Children’

In December 2023, the Department for Education (DfE) published the long-awaited guidance for schools and colleges in England – titled ‘Gender Questioning Children’ – on how to support children and students who may be questioning their gender. The document is also a draft version of the non-statutory guidance for schools and colleges in England. The guidance is now open for public consultation until 12 March 2024.

‘Gender Questioning Children’ is welcome in clarifying many of the issues that have been faced by schools and parents regarding ‘gender issues’, particularly practical issues such as those relating to the use of pronouns, single-sex spaces like toilets and changing rooms, PE and sports and school uniforms. In addition, there is a useful section that attempts to define the language associated with ‘gender’.  It is particularly gratifying that the DfE press release openly proclaims, “Parent first approach at the core of new guidance on gender questioning children”.

The draft guidance notes that “In recent years, we have seen a significant increase in the number of children questioning the way they feel about being a boy or a girl, including their physical attributes of sex and the related ways in which they fit into society. This has been linked to gender identity ideology, the belief that a person can have a ‘gender’, whether male (or ‘man’), female (or ‘woman’), or ‘other’, that is different to their biological sex. This is a contested belief. Many people believe this concept is one that reinforces stereotypes and social norms relating to sex.” It is interesting that the DfE recognises that ‘gender identity’ is an ideology and is a contested belief i.e. one that can be disputed, argued against and called into question, and as a consequence cannot be promoted as uncontested fact.

The guidance is based on a set of five principles that can be used to frame a response to ‘social transitioning’ requests – these are:

“Schools and colleges have statutory duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children. They should consider how best to fulfil that duty towards the child who is making such a request and their peers, ensuring that any agreed course of action is in all of their best interests. This may or may not be the same as a child’s wishes. Knowing a child’s sex is critical to schools’ and colleges’ safeguarding duties.

Schools and colleges should be respectful and tolerant places where bullying is never tolerated. Staff and children should treat each other with compassion and consideration, in accordance with the ethos of the school or college.

Parents should not be excluded from decisions taken by a school or college relating to requests for a child to ‘socially transition.’ Where a child requests action from a school or college in relation to any degree of social transition, schools and colleges should engage parents as a matter of priority, and encourage the child to speak to their parents, other than in the exceptionally rare circumstances where involving parents would constitute a significant risk of harm to the child.

Schools and colleges have specific legal duties that are framed by a child’s biological sex. While legislation exists that allows adults to go through a process to change their legal sex, children’s legal sex is always the same as their biological sex.

There is no general duty to allow a child to ‘social transition.’ The Cass Review’s interim report is clear that social transition is not a neutral act, and that better information is needed about the outcomes for children who undertake degrees of social transition. If a school or college decides to accommodate a request, a cautious approach should be taken that complies with legal duties. Some forms of social transition will not be compatible with schools’ and colleges’ statutory responsibilities.”

These five principles are to be welcomed as there is a recognition of the role of parents (who are ultimately responsible for the education of their children) and the importance of a child’s biological sex.

The draft guidance establishes that a child cannot, legally, be considered ‘transgender’: “We have not used the term transgender to describe children. Under UK law children cannot obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate and therefore cannot change their legal sex.  For the purposes of this guidance, the terms child and children refer to anyone under the age of 18.”

A constant issue for those working with children pertains to pronouns, and the guidance has a section which recognizes that pronoun usage touches on matters of conscience and/or religious belief.  The guidance states that “Agreeing to a child’s request to have others use different pronouns about them is a significant decision. Primary school aged children should not have different pronouns to their sex-based pronouns used about them.”

The guidance also states “…… Having considered these factors and examined all the evidence, schools and colleges 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. It is expected that there will be very few occasions in which a school or college will be able to agree to a change of pronouns. On these rare occasions, no teacher or pupil should be compelled to use these preferred pronouns and it should not prevent teachers from referring to children collectively as ‘girls’ or ‘boys,’ even in the presence of a child that has been allowed to change their pronouns.”  The highlighted text hopefully will be an encouragement to teachers and others faced with these challenging matters.

As previously mentioned, the draft guidance is to be welcomed, but it should also be noted that it is ‘non-statutory’.

There will be, no doubt, an outcry from ‘trans activists’ and those schools which for ideological reasons do not agree with the draft guidance. Consequently, it behooves all Christian parents and those who are concerned about the influence of gender ideology to respond to the consultation document. (CViE would hope to write more on this topic in the near future.)

It is to be regretted that this guidance has been a long time coming, sadly allowing the ‘sluice gate’ for gender ideology (and other God-dishonouring ideologies) to be opened with the introduction of the RSHE statutory guidance in 2019.  Although the clarifying in the draft guidance is needed, much damage has already been done both physically and mentally to children and young people through the harmful effects of gender ideology. It is to be hoped that the review of the RSHE guidance will reinforce draft guidance ‘Gender Questioning Children’ and emphasise that schools have a legal duty of “political impartiality” in matters pertaining to ‘gender identity ideology’.

What can parents and those concerned about this issue do?

Make sure you read the draft guidance “Gender Questioning Children” and make submissions via the Consultation document.

Take the time to read around the topic. To assist you in this, CViE would point you to the following two articles in particular:

Christian Concern: “Gender guidance for schools is a big step forward but not enough”

This article by Roger Kiska (Christian Legal Centre) analyses the government’s new draft guidance on how schools should treat gender questioning children. Within the article, Roger Kiska appliances his legal understanding and knowledge to the issues within the draft guidance and the challenges that will arise from those who take a different standpoint to the principles set out in the draft guidance.

Transgender Trend: “Government draft schools guidance: gender questioning children”

This article (although not written from a Christian perspective) is a very helpful and easy to read background to the draft guidance and emphasises the need to respond in the consultation period.

Organisations such as Christian Concern, Christian Institute and the Association of Christian Teachers have written on the subject and will, no doubt, be producing material to help in responding to the consultation.

Finally, it is important for Christians to look at these events, such as the publication of this draft guidance, and the role that individuals/organisations may have played in influencing the DfE, mindful that it is the Lord God omnipotent who reigneth and that the hearts of all mankind are in His Hand. The Lord grant us a spirit of prayer that He will “tread down” those who would seek to harm/damage the minds of children and young people and that the wisdom of the Genesis foundation male and female created He them (Genesis 1:27 and 5:2) be once more adhered to in our land/society.