Are there any GC teachers here?

[VictoriaLucas102]

I used to be very active on edutwitter not as a teacher although I work in education. I decided in the end it was too risky to carry on tweeting as I would also occasionally tweet about GC feminist issues (which did once result in an anonymous complaint to my employer .. one example of my transphobia was an RIP dedication to Magdalene Burns 🙄).

I noticed Tom Bennett (the ‘behaviour tsar’ and a sometimes controversial character) has recently been tweeting stuff about the ‘cervix-shaver’ thing and in true edutwitter tribal style it’s split opinion with the more ‘traditional’ teachers adopting a critical response and the ‘progressives’ in the be kind’ camp.

I’m just feeling so fed up as yet again I am questioning myself and my (hatefully bigoted) beliefs, but on the other hand I’m so frustrated that people who I know are thoughtful and intelligent are just going along with it.

Is it just the twitter bubble? What’s the general feeling in schools?

I am GC and teach in a school for boys with SEMH needs. Now, as much as I adore my students, there is no pretending that many, many of them are actually transphobic, homophobic etc. So even as GC I spend a fair deal of my time explaining that wishing physical harm or death on transgender and/or gay people is not acceptable/legal.

Me.
I have timidly challenged the idea that we should talk about a gender identity.
Will continue to object to it.

Secondary teacher and teach subjects where it does come up as a topic. Tend to be very careful about how I discuss it. Not openly gc except to a few close colleagues. We have trans children in the school and I have/had some in lessons. Had a lot of respect for the trans student I was knew best and wouldn't dream of making them feel uncomfortable intentionally. Makes it all very tricky.

Me. Out at primary school. Teach that females with XX chromosomes menstruate in SRE. Have been mildly challenged on general GC stance by a previous SLT member who has since moved on, and current Science lead (a 'kind' NQT). Have irritating AF 'All Genders' signage on unisex staff loos; keen to get that changed to Unisex (or the snappy 'Both Sexes') this year.

I'm a GC teacher, but as I teach MFL in a variety of settings (primary to adult), I'm in schools pretty briefly and gender stuff doesn't really come up for me. I'm not sure I'd be willing to out myself as GC though. My dc's school (where dh also works) has a few trans kids, but I don't think there's been much controversy about anything. Not sure what the toilet situation is actually.

So pleased to see so many responses here. I run two Twitter accounts because I slightly fear for my job if I am out as GC - in education, but not school-based.

The Chartered College is a worry for me. Seem well and truly captured and in a position to influence particularly new teachers, who as PPs have commented, want to be ‘kind’. And the heads’ union, NAHT, has partnered with Diversity Role Models, the group who produced the awful ASDA -supported pack that was withdrawn, and whose ambassadors and resources seem very focused on gender identity.

I feel there are many more GC than are visible, but successfully silenced by the authoritarian nature of the thought and speech policing, and the brazen misrepresentation of the law.

GC science teacher here. I don't do twitter but have outed myself on FB, but I'm not friends with colleagues on there and I don't follow or post to the school feed either.

I'd say most of the staff are quietly GC. One has a child in the process of going FTM and is totally enraged that her child has been pushed in that direction, definitely GC there.

We have one Year 8 who 'identifies as a boy' but afaik uses female toilets and original feminine name, I haven't taught them and I have no idea what their pronouns are, and I won't this year either as I have no year 8 classes. To be fair, no one wants to identify into the boys toilets at our school, and a 'gender neutral' option has never been even considered afaik. Parents round here are pretty old school so I can't see it any time soon.

Really reassured reading all these comments. Thank you 😊

I’m a GC biology teacher. Many colleagues know this, and agree. You can’t teach biology and believe that men can menstruate or gestate. I also don’t want young people to believe they can avoid aspects of puberty by identifying away from them.

We have a few trans young people, and whilst I want them to be safe, happy and healthy, I support the need for single sex spaces. Third spaces are the only way forward IMO.

I am one. But my dept is v young and woke and I'm ashamed to say I'm not out, only with one senior colleague who is a gay man and seems bemused and bewildered by the whole thing.

I also teach language and gender at a level. I play devils advocate a lot. "Some people might argue that...." etc

I follow a retiree account called GCSE Macbeth and the other fat they said something re transphobic dog whistles from behaviour gurus - obs a ref to Tom bennet

Sorry for typos - doing it one handed while drying my hair.

Twitter account

The other day

I'm a governor at a primary school and aim to ensure no teaching on gender identity or biased external instructors at a review meeting in Sept. Obviously we'd accommodate and educate appropriately if we had a trans child at the sch. So maybe govs might be a way to shape things at your sch?

My DD moves to secondary in Sept so am hoping here to get gender identity (which is on the curriculum) taught as a contested new idea rather than as fact, and more emphasis on exploring gender stereotypes and their problems. And teach them there have always been g non-conformists e.g. Boy George

Great comments on here. If we keep children's needs and rights centred as opposed to the demands of lobby groups, then schools won't go far wrong. There's a massive iceberg underneath the good ship Woke and it is slowly slowly starting to appear ,

Me, but I keep quiet at school. We have a fair few trans kids and no matter what I said it would backfire - I have to put them first so I am just gently supportive, because I have to be. I do take every opportunity to point out feminist issues in the texts I teach though.

Me - family support worker.

I attended a conference earlier this year about supporting LGBTQI+ young people and shamelessly carried the flag for GC views. I declined to give my pronouns and at a workshop on gender when asked for definitions, I said that sex is binary and gender is stereotypes that have oppressed people (mostly women) for decades. It’s no exaggeration to say a pile-on ensued, but thanks to FWR I had plenty of ammunition to defend my views.

I care too much about the damage to children to keep my mouth shut but I know I’m lucky that I’m not the sole earner in our household.

Something I have noticed and I'm not sure if others working in secondary have noted it too is that ALL of the teenage girls I i each have very very long hair. The only girls with short hair (2) identify as boys.

This might seem like a small thing but when I was at school (am 36) there were a lot of acceptable hairstyles. Bobs, pixie, shoulder length etc. Now ALL the girls have extremely long hair down past the midpoint of their backs. It seems like there is this hyper feminine orthodoxy and if you don't fit into it then you must be a boy. Tomboys don't exist. I don't even think there are goths/emos all those tribes anymore.

I find it disturbing.

I have a few goths/emos though I think most will have left this year.

Definitely a distinct lack of tomboys though. Our one 'identifies as a boy' pupil is indistinguishable from what would have been a tomboy in my day. We do have one of two rather 'camp' boys who brilliantly seem to give zero fucks.

@cyrilavery

Something I have noticed and I'm not sure if others working in secondary have noted it too is that ALL of the teenage girls I i each have very very long hair. The only girls with short hair (2) identify as boys.

This might seem like a small thing but when I was at school (am 36) there were a lot of acceptable hairstyles. Bobs, pixie, shoulder length etc. Now ALL the girls have extremely long hair down past the midpoint of their backs. It seems like there is this hyper feminine orthodoxy and if you don't fit into it then you must be a boy. Tomboys don't exist. I don't even think there are goths/emos all those tribes anymore.

I find it disturbing.

I've noticed this too. i was looking at some old school photos the other day from the early 90s, we had a huge variety of hairstyles and presentation.

I think an end to this highly sexualised Kardashian/drag emulating/high maintenance culture that is pervasive across social media would do wonders for the self esteem of young girls and do a lot to reverse the fixation on gender stereotypes that pushes some towards identifying out of girlhood.

It will fade out that I'm sure of, all trends do over time. The biggest question is whether what replaces it will be more or less harmful!

@cyrilavery

Something I have noticed and I'm not sure if others working in secondary have noted it too is that ALL of the teenage girls I i each have very very long hair. The only girls with short hair (2) identify as boys.

This might seem like a small thing but when I was at school (am 36) there were a lot of acceptable hairstyles. Bobs, pixie, shoulder length etc. Now ALL the girls have extremely long hair down past the midpoint of their backs. It seems like there is this hyper feminine orthodoxy and if you don't fit into it then you must be a boy. Tomboys don't exist. I don't even think there are goths/emos all those tribes anymore.

I find it disturbing.

Yes. Daughters of friends the same age as my son (17) ... fake tan, fake eyelashes, long dyed hair, caked in make up, skin tight low cut mini dresses from the age of about 14 .. I sound like a prude but it’s definitely not the natural look they go for. I know it’s probably fashion and noted one of my friend’s daughters was wearing v baggy clothes the other day (baggy is now in, I’m informed by my son!) .. maybe Billy Eilish’s refusal to conform will help shift this hyper-femininity look.

Also really interested about comments on governance as I’m a governor at a secondary school and am dreading this issue coming up. We are moving into a new build school in the next two years and I want to ensure single sex toilets are maintained.

@cyrilavery

Something I have noticed and I'm not sure if others working in secondary have noted it too is that ALL of the teenage girls I i each have very very long hair. The only girls with short hair (2) identify as boys.

This might seem like a small thing but when I was at school (am 36) there were a lot of acceptable hairstyles. Bobs, pixie, shoulder length etc. Now ALL the girls have extremely long hair down past the midpoint of their backs. It seems like there is this hyper feminine orthodoxy and if you don't fit into it then you must be a boy. Tomboys don't exist. I don't even think there are goths/emos all those tribes anymore.

I find it disturbing.

Yes, this is really noticeable. DD has one friend with really short hair and she's been asked by other kids if she's a boy or if she's trans. It seems incomprehensible to the other kids that a girl could just have short hair and still be a girl. Depressing.

I am, primary Sen.

So many random parents and staff at my children's school could see what I tweet that I'm v careful and use it for work stuff. Like the odd gender critical stuff like let toys be toys etc. I've been a bit braver recently and commented on an excellent essay (which I must remember to post here. )

I have a second account for rampant raving

I've seen the division a bit though and it does my head in. It's very "be kind!"

I'm a secondary teacher and openly GC at work. I think because we are a Catholic school and our students are mainly BAME and not middle class (teen transition seems to be a very white middle class phenomenon) it hasn't come up as an issue at my school. I did have a run in with a colleague on Facebook about JK Rowling over lockdown. So that will be slightly scary going back to work! The safeguarding lead knows my concerns and I hope I've been there long enough for people to know I'm not an evil bigot. Kiri Tunks being senior in the NEU has given me lots more confidence to speak out.

Me! I work with older teens and try to stay quietly focused on putting across very reasonable questions when discussions or training come up. I'm also very involved with PSHE and regularly tinker with the powerpoints and lesson materials regarding equality and diversity to make sure that those delivering the sessions to the students stick to what the legislation actually says rather than made up mermaids drivel. In all honesty, I think most teachers see PSHE as a bit of a pain in the arse add on, so no one so far has had the interest to query the changes I make, although I'd always be up for explaining what I've done and why. Sometimes I think it's better to hold firm and steady and explain clearly, calmly and rationally where necessary, rather than getting into any stand offs. I know there are many others in my workplace doing the same as me and many others who just haven't given it much thought. Much like in wider life where it's only a small, noisy minority who are screaming 'bigots' at us.