KHTeach We have mixed sex loos at the school I teach at and there are no problems
With respect, you simply cannot know that. All of these pronouncements that there are no problems, rely on the child or the children raising their distress at having to - in breach of their human rights btw - share toilets with the other sex with a staff member, for the staff member to take any notice and not just dismiss her outright or minimise her objections and to then mention this to their colleagues.
And all of that in a school that may have made it abundantly clear to children and staff alike that this is done to be kind to gender questioning children. Any girl complaining is therefore immediately outing herself as unkind.
Even worse, given that all of the guidance issued by trans rights orgs on the treatment of children who identify as trans frames girls' distress at losing their human right to privacy, dignity and safety and their absolute right to asserting their boundaries around their own bodies against all male children, however they identify, as problematic, disrespectful or unjustified, it takes a brave girl indeed to raise her voice and say I don't want to share my toilets with boys.
I have asked the many, many children I meet every school day about this and have not once had a girl saying I'm fine with this. I have however heard from a large number of girls (and boys) who are self-excluding from mixed-sex toilets in other schools, who just don't drink throughout the day and wait till they're back home. Would you know about these children if they never tell you?
Also, 60% of our girls have either experienced sexual harassment at school themselves or have witnessed it, even more girls have experienced sexual harassment outside of school. Every single school day a child is raped in UK schools and we know from rape statistics that at least 90% of them will be female children.
The vast majority of these girls feel distress at being forced to share with males in places where they are in a state of undress and therefore feel particularly vulnerable.
Are you seriously expecting such a girl to single herself out from her peers and to disclose her assault to a teacher just so she can have her legally mandated single-sex toilet back?
Child victims of sexual abuse have a right under Article 39 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to have the state - and by extension you as their teacher - help them recover from abuse. A huge part of that is providing single-sex sanitary and changing facilities for all children, that respect their sex-based needs and their rights - as provided for in the Equality Act 2010 - to these single-sex spaces.
Another important step in aiding the recovery of sexual abuse victims (the vast majority of whom are female) is respecting the boundaries around their own bodies (that we spend so much time teaching our children they are entitled to have and to assert). And to not just listen to their views when they pluck up the courage to speak up, but to actively seek out their views before embracing these harmful practices that breach the human rights of children.
Your "no problem" mixed-sex toilets are in violation of national laws (Equality Act 2010), of the school building regulations and international laws (the human rights of children under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child). I'd say that's a huge fucking problem. But maybe that's just me.