JIgsaw PHSE materials - I have details

[SolvingtheJigsaw]

I have had a few emails back and forth with my school and I have some details of the transgender lesson that is taught. Details to follow in the next few posts.

I can only guess at what bit of Robert/Roberta's story is actually relevant. Maybe having to give up motor racing? I hope the children are rightly enraged that women weren't allowed to do that but that doesn't seem to be a feature of the lesson.

But in each of the top 3/4 google hits on either Robert or Roberta the main points that stick out are:

Robert had experimental surgery, by a surgeon who had also had experimental surgery (and I don't think details of the surgery are appropriate).
Robert denied he had children so that he could claim he was intersex and hence change his birth certificate.
Roberta's later life is not portrayed as happy.

It strikes me as a bit odd altogether. It isn't really a lesson on 'what is transgender' because as mentioned above it misses out a quite crucial part which is that it is not possible to change sex. And if it is a lesson on Equalities it is odd to choose gender identity as a protected characteristic, because for the vast majority of children sex/race/disability would be much more relevant.

@StellaAndCrow

I hope they give as much time to all the other protected characteristics and potential "differences". It would be nice to see as much resource being put into supporting e.g. children with disabilities, autism, learning disability, hearing difficulties etc etc etc

This ^^^ OP.

I need to look at this properly (just skimmed so far) school have sent the PHSE consultation through so I will use this info in forming my reply.

The school has over 40% of pupils who English is not their first language, so race would be much more relevant.

Thanks OP. I have responded to dd's school consultation relating to jigsaw pshe. I knew some of the contents of this lesson but not all. I think the focus on fair treatment is, well, fair, but the children are going to be confused by the content. I teach secondary and my students (not of the woke variety) are very confused by the whole sex/gender thing. I try to explain as best I can but am always looking over my shoulder in case I say something heretical.

The rights and responsibilities usually relate to the UN convention on the rights of the child. If they’ve been doing Jigsaw for a while then they’ll know about this. So they might just refer back to those rights/responsibilities.
I feel sorry for everyone in this situation! I think Jigsaw has done what it can to refer to transgender people in a way that primary children can just about understand.

My opinion is that it could be much worse. I was dreading, when seeing that the lesson was about discrimination and the Equalities Act, that it would be giving the unequivocal message single sex spaces should be available to those of the opposite sex who identify as trans.

I think using an adult is less of an issue when introducing transgender identity than using a child example.

However - Robert/Roberta is newsworthy really only as the first British male to female transexual. I am a little worried that introducing the name to children who might then google the name is facilitating their knowledge of such surgery without making sure the children know it does not actually change the sex of the person.

God I pity the kids. I can't imagine a more boring lesson. I suppose a whole hour with whoever is in charge of waste disposal at the hospital as part of induction week "you put this in an orange bag and that in a black bag and make a swan neck for the tie like this" is up there. I'd rather sit through the rubbish sorting talk tbh.

And I'd rather my children (who thankfully are out of school now and just missed this) got taught something more enriching.

Doesn't sound like the most inspiring lesson. but good that they are being taught this. I'm sure teachers will make it more interesting/relevant to their own cohort of children.

It's not exactly a ringing endorsement when the best that can be said is "well, I suppose it could be worse."

@StellaAndCrow

I hope they give as much time to all the other protected characteristics and potential "differences". It would be nice to see as much resource being put into supporting e.g. children with disabilities, autism, learning disability, hearing difficulties etc etc etc

I don't know about primary school, but in KS3 and KS4 the protected characteristics are revisited and taught every year, with a variety of focuses - so, my Y10s have recently looked at age discrimination, for example