What can teachers and other professionals do to create a more gender free environment in our schools?

[SarahCarer]

As my dd is autistic and, as a result, Gender non Conforming (GNC) I thought I would share some thoughts about how to de-gender our schools.

Firstly, teachers need to find a way to address groups of children without saying "girls" or "boys" . This is commonplace in some schools and puts an unnatural focus onto a person's sex which is of no relevance at all in the context.

Secondly every school should have at least one unisex toilet which any pupil can use without special permission.

Thirdly school staff should avoid using the terms "good girl" or "good boy" Again the sex is of no relevance and the statement risks implying that they are being good because they are behaving in a way consistent with femininity or masculinity.

Fourthly ALL sexism and homophobia should be robustly challenged

Fifthly sex ed should not have gendered content

Sixthly there should be no organising of classes with reference to sex except in PE or for sex ed.

Any thoughts on these suggestions or suggestions for others?

These are some of the ways we can protect our autistic children from gender dysphoria (GD)

But by describing a child as GNC you are by definition forcing gender on all the other children- you are creating stereotypes and putting children into boxes.

I have 1 male child and 1 female child- how they choose to present themselves (hair, clothes etc) is up to them. The gender rainbow in my opinion serves only to restrict children’s freedom of expression.

User - I assume the same ones the op’s dd does not conform to. She wears clothes that society has decided are ‘boys clothes’, wears her hair in what society has decided is a ‘boys style’ and frequently gets mistaken for a boy when out and about because of her appearance. It’s all aesthetics and social conditioning - she is of course female, but can be mistaken for male if you are only glancing, or don’t realize that short hair and trousers doesn’t equal male.
She has breasts. She menstruates. She is undeniably female. To deny this and insist that her hair or clothing choices render it inappropriate for her to be included in her own sex class would be cruel othering and would be upholding stereotypes, not dismantling them.
Children with autism need to be protected from stereotyping, not inculcated into it.

I am actually feeling slightly queasy that the op appears to believe that lining up the children and then splitting them up based on their clothing and style choices is progressive.
This is a step further than ensuring children aren’t disadvantaged by their sex, and ensuring that each child reaches their potential - which is the goal of any educator.

Where we seat the pupils is one of the ways we deal with disruptive behaviour Snappity. It's a controlled start, and advised (to me, anyway) back in the dark ages when I was at teacher training. It's not abdicating responsibility, it's taking it.
Strange turn for the thread, but hey ho.

I'm a bit stunned by this thread. Teachers or ex teachers are claiming they have enough to do without bothering about equality. There has been lots of research showing unconscious bias in the way boys and girls are treated. Teachers have an enormous impact as role models.
I've been into lots of schools where the bias is evident. I do think there is a lot of misunderstanding of what the OP is saying whether it's wilful or not I don't know.

whereas some of the other posters seem to expect children to be the ones to deal with disruptive kids because the teacher either can't or won't and that's pretty disgusting IMO.

Gosh, which other posters would that be because I can’t see any on this thread.

Teachers or ex teachers are claiming they have enough to do without bothering about equality. There has been lots of research showing unconscious bias in the way boys and girls are treated.

Yes i'm sure this has been said, i can't find it, do you mind either quoting or linking?

Black dog that isn't what the OP said at all

CronnyRash
'Teaching's hard enough without making it even harder. If I was still teaching this could be the sort of thing that would make me quit, frankly.

Our job is to teach DCs to read, write and add up'

CronnyRash
'Anything else that schools and teachers should do? For fuck's sake! We're already expected to sort out all of society's ills and do the paperwork'

Stark it kind of is. The op wants different facilities (toilets/ changing) and for sex Ed to be changed to accommodate her daughter. Who knows she is a female.
The question is what is she trying to achieve? The problem is that other kids are brainwashed by gender stereotypes. You don’t fix that by putting a girl in a separate toilet to the other girls. The solution is for the other kids to think in terms of sex and realize how stupid gender is.

imnobody I do a hell of a lot to promote equality actually: just because I don’t think the OP’s suggestions are great doesn’t mean I don’t implement other strategies. Just because we can see a problem doesn’t mean we have to try poor solutions.