Times on Sex Matters survey: 8 in 10 teachers say their secondary school has trans or non-binary pupils

[ResisterRex]

This is in today's paper and states again that Dept for Education is working on the guidelines.

8 in 10 teachers say their secondary school has trans pupils

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/f2a3bcfe-b906-11ec-94e5-2197dead5942?shareToken=429e243ebe8065bf8d9d275c535357a9

"Asked what they thought had contributed to students’ altered identity, approximately 60 per cent of secondary school teachers cited there being trans or non-binary celebrities in the media. About 80 per cent said their school would refer to a pupil by their chosen name and pronouns if asked by a trans or non-binary student and their parent."

And

"A spokesman for the Department for Education said yesterday: “We recognise that gender identity can be a complex and sensitive topic for schools to navigate.

“We know many teachers are having these important conversations with their pupils, including through the relationship, sex and health education curriculum which is designed to foster respect for others in a way that respects everyone’s views.

“We will be working with the Equalities and Human Rights Commission as we consider our next steps for supporting schools in this area.”"

I heard a spokeswoman from NEU on Times Radio sounding very reasonable about policy to do with Transgender or Non binary pupils. There was no concrete evidence; just generally. Has there been a change of policy?

Is it possible at all to work with the school if something is clearly against the Dept of Ed Sept 2020 guidance though?

Yes in theory and of course all schools do lip service to safeguarding.

However, not all schools are as robust in their attitudes as they should be. I actually left one international school because I raised concerns about a member of staff.

He was 'massaging' 9 year old boys in full view of another teachers class whilst they were meant to be learning. I saw him inviting children age 9 to sit on his lap (not normal to invite, 9 year olds will feel coerced at that age) amongst other things. He used to ignore my instructions to work with the pupils that needed support and instead gravitated towards the same boy, who happened to be shy and 'attractive'. I was very concerned and took it to senior staff.

I was told I was racist(it's a cultural thing) that I was homophobic(he was gay) even if those things were true, basic safeguarding rules should have meant they at least recorded my concerns. They never did. I was badly bullied and hounded with no way to report my concerns as all the safeguarding leads minimised my concerns. I quit because i couldn't keep children safe.

Now, yes this was abroad but all the staff that were involved had a wealth of experience in teaching in the UK.

Since then I have been ignored on several factors, from curriculum to behaviour, so I have little faith in bringing anything to my 'superiors' or in a slt who are captured following safeguarding procedure.

At least in the UK you have whistle blowing policies that you can go over the heads of such people, as I didn't have that abroad.

But my point being, safeguarding is only a good system if everyone abides by it without prejudice.

I have direct experience of my safeguarding concerns being brushed off because of a sacred caste. I feel a lot of guilt about leaving that school with that man still in place, but was absolutely powerless to stop it.

Personally I think if Ofsted spent more time on basic safeguarding responsibility instead of their current model it would be time well spent.

Thanks for answering WeDontTalkAboutYouKnow.

I think it is quite clear that if teachers don't have the power to make these changes, this pressure needs to keep coming from the parents. That pressure can be considered supportive or, as evidenced by some posts on this thread, not welcome. But either way, I will continue and I am sure many others will as well to keep pressure on our children's schools to make sure they are not letting our children down in this area.

Yes, I definitely think parents have significant power to change.

I do think part of the problem is that this relates to the teaching retention crisis. When I did my teacher training and nqt, a million years ago, the safeguarding training was very brief. It was inadequate.

Thankfully, I had an experienced mentor who led me through how to deal with my first safeguarding issues. One of which was year six children had found their parents YouTube and used it to browse porn. At the time, whilst I thought it was awful, I didn't realise it was child abuse and we had the power to further escalate it. Thankfully, having an experienced teacher to guide me I was able to follow the proper channels and retained that knowledge got the future.

But we have a lack of experienced teachers and mentors now due to the conditions in teaching being nigh on impossible. So new teachers don't get the wealth of knowledge and experience and rely on their own preconceptions, which as demonstrated elsewhere on this thread, can be naive, wrong or actively a safeguarding issue in themselves.

I'm not being ageist, btw, the mentor that actually taught me was young in herself. The point being that experience is not valued in education and no effort is being made to retain those staff.

And furthermore, often what you will find is that SLT are relatively inexperienced 'climbers' whose experience and knowledge is limited. I've been in teaching a long time, but I am not a climber, I stayed in a lowly position because I don't want to be a paper pusher out of the classroom etc, but the amount of times I've been overruled by someone I've known demonstrated more is numerous.

And sometimes, that has adverse effects for the children. A few times it's been really serious.

But each time the SLT finds someone lower down to pin blame on and the culture never shifts.

I'm sure it's not like this in all schools, my husband has a very different experience, although we both acknowledge his concerns get listened to more by virtue of his sex.

Anyway, rambling somewhat, but my point being this is another symptom of the crisis in teaching and it's awful that nothing will be done until children are collateral damage.

@Helleofabore

Thanks for answering WeDontTalkAboutYouKnow.

I think it is quite clear that if teachers don't have the power to make these changes, this pressure needs to keep coming from the parents. That pressure can be considered supportive or, as evidenced by some posts on this thread, not welcome. But either way, I will continue and I am sure many others will as well to keep pressure on our children's schools to make sure they are not letting our children down in this area.

Is the mechanism that parents must talk to governors about this?

I am mindful, of course, of the teacher who is currently going forward to appeal an employment tribunal and the way that she was handled by a group of governors and colleagues (Higgs v Farmor's School) who sprung a disciplinary hearing on her with no notice, for 6 hours (ignoring her pleas that she needed to get home to feed her children) and with 6 v 1. (I'm opposed to those aspects of the disciplinary hearing.)

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4510482-Maya-Forstater-Tribunal-March-2022-Thread-4?pg=26

Is the mechanism that parents must talk to governors about this?

If need be yes. To be clear, I mean for the purpose of making policy changes.