Updated relationships, sex and health curriculum guidance

This is fantastic news - do you think we have any chance of getting it followed in Scotland too?

I would love to hear an insider account of what has been going on inside Whitehall. It is clear that the government position has massively pivoted. I'm imagining a series of free and frank discussions over the last several months. A memoir from a civil servant or politician telling the inside story would be fascinating. The progress has been so agonisingly slow, and now there are changes on many fronts almost overnight! I wish that the process could have been more transparent so that we could have followed the twists and turns.

I'm not sure how eager schools will be to continue receiving training from Stonewall given the strong gender ideology position they hold and the glaring safeguarding lapses in their documents (it states quite clearly in their guidance that schools should withhold information from parents if that is what the child wishes). In terms of resources, there are plenty of high quality options out there which teach RSE including LGBT identity and relationships without imposing a gender ideology.

As for schools continuing to refer to Mermaids, I think we should await the outcome of the NHS independent review on Gender identity clinical provision. The scope of their review will cover rapidly rising numbers of referrals, particularly in girls as well as considering the most appropriate treatment options. Once they have listened to children, parents and clinicians I'm not sure they will recommend a charity who is pushing for an affirmative approach and (according to parents who have written about their experiences) sometimes advise children and parents what to say to doctors to access the medication as quickly as possible.

I haven't had a chance to look at the detail of this but have seen positive tweets. Very very pleased that sense and safeguarding seems to have prevailed. Well done dfe.

If adults can't explain it to other adults in a way that makes sense, how the hell are schools meant to teach it to children?

This is the problem in schools, especially primary schools.

The No outsiders unit on Teddy, a teddy who moves his bow to his hair relies entirely on stereotypes as you simply can't explain "trans" to children in other ways.

Which is why the idea of a "trans child" is silly.

Oooh interesting...

Do you think they employed JK in secret?

Wow Errol!

Gosh someone really does get it!

Hooray for that!

Well done, well done, well done to all those "bloody difficult women" who picked up this issue and would not let it go, even when they were being absolutely bloody vilified on social media and elsewhere.

Gosh, the Americans/Canadians etc. are going to have a fit when they see this, aren't they? On top of the pushback against self-definition of gender. Twitter is already full of people who are shocked and horrified at how "transphobic" Britain is and are wondering why the British left can't be "kind" like it is in the United States and Canada.

As for Stonewall they mostly train teachers as well, and will likely continue to do so as I'm fairly confident they would be compliant with the guidelines (and if not can tweak them until they are, it's quite possible to educate people about trans kids without talking about gendr stereotypes. Gender stereotypes don't really have anything to do with being trans which is more about an internal sense of who you are).

Resources used in teaching must now be evidence-based. That will require a good deal more than a bit of ‘tweaking‘ of material positing a so-called gender identity.

He was apparently captured.

All good seemingly since the DfE's head civil servant Jonathan Slater was shown the door on 1st September, ostensibly over the exams fiasco ...

Someone at DfE really gets it, don't they Errol

I think some adults need to take note...

Slightly OT but I noticed this on the Crispin blunt thread... another bit of good advice from the DfE today.

No one can explain exactly what it means to be trans in a comprehensible way. Not even the so called professionals who change their tune as and when it suits. It all comes back to stereotypes or personality traits.

If adults can't explain it to other adults in a way that makes sense, how the hell are schools meant to teach it to children?

We need a definition of what it is that makes a child 'trans', and how we can distinguish such a child from one who is simply unhappy with gender stereotypes.

And we could also do with a definition of what a 'gender identity' is, and how it differs from a personality.

So it's gone from 'people are trans because of gender dysphoria' to 'you don't need gender dysphoria to be trans'.

Also from 'boys that like girls toys/clothes/have more girl friends are actually girls' to 'no, those are just stereotypes and don't indicate a "trans child." '

I've seen quotes on the Mermaids website from parents of "trans children" that state they only use the toy nonsense as an example because it's the easiest way to explain to people

No one can explain exactly what it means to be trans in a comprehensible way. Not even the so called professionals who change their tune as and when it suits. It all comes back to stereotypes or personality traits.

If adults can't explain it to other adults in a way that makes sense, how the hell are schools meant to teach it to children?

Thank you for those who explained and backed it up. .. I was concerned about mixed sex bathrooms but this is a whole other level.

Glad there is some guidance now that seems sensible and more appropriate for the kids and parents.

it's quite possible to educate people about trans kids without talking about gendr stereotypes

Is it? What is a 'trans kid'?

Really normal.

In schools you can only label a child as male or female

Really annoying.

Gender stereotypes don't really have anything to do with being trans which is more about an internal sense of who you are

Do you mean like a personality?

@jj1968

How do you describe a "general sense of who you are in your mind" without reference to any gender stereotypes? "I feel I am a boy because I like typical boy stuff" is very close to what mermaids have been advocating - which is gender stereotyping. "I feel that I am in the wrong body and I look down and feel I should have a penis and can't associate with having a female body and would only want to have sex as a man, as this is the body I see myself having" is very different.

Of 100 girls identifying as trans, at least 80 will "recover" statistically speaking, so for most whatever feeling they have is a transient feeling that they might prefer to be a boy. Probably in reaction to social stereotypes or body hatred in puberty.

No more than 20 experience true distress at their body (ie their sex) and may go on to try to transition to change their outward appearance visually so that it aligns more with the sex that they want to resemble.

How do you communicate and support this sense of self to people who are still finding out who they are, without pushing the 80 to do something that they might regret later?

It really isn't that easy.