Pronouns in Schools

[Birdsweepsin]

faq.scomis.org/kb704626/

SIMS, one of the big school-pupil management pieces of software, has .

And according to Nicola Burkinshaw, there is an option for 'schools-only' pronouns. I can't confirm this, but maybe someone who uses SIMS could?

The video suggests this is 'customer demand'. Oh yes?

9 pronoun sets are available (the most commonly used in UK) more may be added later. Gillian Keegan really needs to get a grip.

Ugh

Gillian Keegan is a clueless 'be kind' idiot.

9 pronoun sets? There are only 6 commonly used in English, 8 if you include 'thou' and 'one'.

Customisable field. So infinite.

But I can't see an option for people whose pronouns change on different days....

I use SIMS and knew this was coming, so the day the new release came out I altered all the pronoun fields so they are blank and cannot be used. No-one else in the school knows how to do that, so they may struggle to reverse. I am involved loosely with their future development and stated clearly that I believe this to be a very big mistake. No-one in school has time to process unnecessary data.

I have shared with other school data managers - one told me I was being discriminatory. I just stated we only process data that was necessary for student welfare, safeguarding, provision of education and statutory purposes. I also wasn't prepared to process data that could be changed at will. Judging by what I see elsewhere of the Data protection knowledge level of the more junior data managers they will do what they are told without thinking. (eg mass data deletions).

Thanks LionWitch. That's reassuring, at least

Nice work @thelionthewitchtheaudacityofTHISbitch 👏
I think that's totally reasonable to say it's not feasible to record data that can be changed on a whim. Also data minimisation is a key principle of GDPR. What is the purpose of recording pronouns? If the data doesn't serve a legitimate purpose, it shouldn't be kept.

Very well done, @thelionthewitchtheaudacityofTHISbitch. I applaud you 👏 too.

Hello! I have a journo who is potentially interested in this story, if anyone, particularly thelionthewitchtheaudacityofTHISbitch wants to follow me on twitter and we can DM? Sorry I am not very good on Mumsnet or used to it! - carolinefff on twitter

We've been discussing SIMS in the teachers WRN group on Twitter. The latest update offers an option for pronouns to be used in school only, enabling schools to socially transition children behind their parents backs.

@cariadlet how does that work during parents evening?

I'm not sure. I'm a primary school teacher and we don't have any children who say that they are trans.

I expect it would be used in secondary schools and 6th form colleges.

Given what the Cass interim report said about social transitioning, schools would be very foolish to go down that route - especially without parental consent, FFS!

Exactly this!
Students have asked us to change pronouns without parental permission, but we log 'questioning gender identity' as a safeguarding issue and inform parents/carers (usual caveats about it being safe to do so etc).