Remarkably Balanced Article in The Guardian: “ Trans pupils put school policies to test amid heated debate in England”

[rogdmum]

Starts with a scary teacher who says:

”We’re not trying to say to parents that we know best. We are working in the child’s best interests. We will do what we can to support them – what they ask for is what they will get. We work for the students, we don’t work for the parents essentially,”

But goes on to quote Bayswater and schools that seem to have at least a sneaking suspicion that this is not as simple as some would make out and actually there are safeguarding issues.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/may/08/trans-pupils-put-school-policies-test-heated-debate-england?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Interesting quote from teacher "we've been dealing with this for ages. 10 years!" Owtte. What about before 10 years ago? Why such an increase?

And residential trips? “We’ve just done a trip abroad where one of our trans boys shared a dormitory with the other boys.” All parents were informed in advance and “everyone was absolutely fine with it”. On another trip, a separate room was found for a trans child.

What the actual fuck? It beggars belief that both teachers and parents could be so neglectful of safeguarding principles that they would allow this. I'm absolutely gobsmacked.

“One of our girls shared a dormitory with the other boys” fixed that for that teacher

I wonder how that school reacts to parents who are not fine with mixed sex dormitories

I’d love to know what the average Guardian reader reaction is- will they just nod along to these safeguarding breaches thinking there’s nothing wrong or will they start to think “WTF”?

A teacher who has taken the extreme step of putting her kid on hormone blockers and cross sex hormones under the age of 16, should be nowhere near the LGBT club.

I love how the removal of a bedroom door is positioned as an extreme reaction to the announcement of a trans identity in a child, but putting them on experimental treatments that will shorten life span, remove fertility, soften bones and mean they may never orgasm, totally fine.

Gosh, not allowing comments! Fancy.

The twitter thread, not many comments at the moment.

https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1655588028713164803?s=20

So, 'Beth' transed her child and is now getting her decision validated by transing other people's kids and hiding it from them. I'd be very suspicious of any 'expert' guidance being followed in her school. Mermaids and the like claim to give expert guidance. She should be nowhere near any children.

“We’ve just done a trip abroad where one of our trans boys shared a dormitory with the other boys.” All parents were informed in advance and “everyone was absolutely fine with it”.

You can't argue with stupid. Half the parents probably didn't realise which sex a "trans boy" is and I'll bet Beth didn't spell it out. Sooner or later there will be an unwanted pregancy and then it will all come out on top.

25 to 30 kids in that teacher's school questioning their gender! Even if it is a big school that's a huge number of what we are still told is such a tiny, marginalised group!

The more affirmative school does have a higher rate it seems. What a coincidence.

It's good to see they don't list mermaids at the bottom of the article at least, where they list places to go for help. Shows how far they have fallen if no longer in the Guardians favour.

I don’t usually post on here but I came on here after reading this article. I completely agree with this point and I am a teacher.

I found this a tough read at first when wading through the solo views of *Beth. It did get better but why why was one extremely biased teacher given a third of the article to themselves as if they were speaking on behalf of the teaching body as a whole?!!!

I could not agree more with the PP about Beth and her extremist views.

I was so glad to read the more cautious views of other headteachers. I am a bit worried about my children starting school whilst all this is so prevalent.

I am a guardian reading liberal by the way. Always have been (but they might be about to kick me out!).

I thought that @OuiLaLa massive coverage of Beth's views was wrong when she seems to really be justifying why she transed her own child so young.

As a former teacher I thought the comment: "“We’re not trying to say to parents that we know best. We are working in the child’s best interests. We will do what we can to support them – what they ask for is what they will get. We work for the students, we don’t work for the parents essentially,” Beth says." was really frightening. The child does not belong to the state, the school or the teacher (we used to be told this in no uncertain terms) and unless the parents are abusive then the parents are absolutely key in this situation. They seem to think parents saying 'no' is abusive.

I also thought this was very telling - like the College of Policing, it does not matter what the government say these organisations will please themselves:

"There have been reports that under the new government guidance, teachers may be required to tell parents if pupils start using a new name or pronouns, or wearing different clothing. “If that guidance came in, it’s guidance, it’s not law,” says Beth. “And I for one would be very, very reluctant to pick up the phone.""

I mean how dare she, how bloody dare she! Who made Beth and others like her God??? These people are trained teahcers and not trained social workers. Any additional training they have will be more like a day long piece of CPD. It certainly does not equip or qualify Beth and other activist teachers to interfere in the personal/social/medical or family lives of children in this way.

I had to double check if those kids are at a single sex school. Apparently not.

This is such a very good point.

Beth - and Beth's school are a danger to children. Beth is a very self interested adult, no doubt with a mess of personal confusions about their own child, who is being enabled to actively to dabble in other children's psychological / emotional development with zero qualifications and zero understanding about child development. The school have stepped way outside their professional role - look at what they do:

They have an LGBT club that to "support" children suffering from gender dysphoria
They have a formal system of communication about these children for staff openly asking them to use names / pronouns in secret from parents
They invite parents to come into school and advise on the professional and medical help available for children with gender dysphoria.
They have allegedly trained mentors for pupils questioning their sex
They write an LGBTQ+ profile that goes to teachers, detailing a child's chosen name and pronouns, how they would like transphobic incidents to be dealt with, and which toilets and changing rooms they will use.

I've rarely read anything so professionally dangerous. It's a complete undermining of safeguarding by an adult with a personal agenda. If anyone recognises this school, it needs reporting to Ofsted

Interesting article. Good to know there are schools out there that are well-informed and supportive towards trans children.

Anyone else get the feeling that Beth was very keen to validate the road she had taken with her own child by encouraging other children to do the same thing. She seemed to think she was some sort of blessed saviour for confused kids in her school, and it was interesting that the number of children claiming to be trans was so high in her school compared to the others. Sadly most confused children, as another parent noted, will grasp tightly onto anything that might seem to be the solution to their anxiety.

And also schools who recognise that teenagers need guidance and support to navigate the confusion of teen years, especially if they are also struggling with anxiety, ASD, undiagnosed autism , poor self image, minimal parenting, bullying………….

So the school ‘outed’ a ‘trans’ child? I thought this went against all Stonewall advice!

What is the legal position on not following guidance from the government regarding safeguarding?

If Beth or another teacher doesn't inform a parent that their child wants to transition, and then there is a bad outcome, are there grounds for parents to sue the school for failure to safeguard the child?

Obviously if the school documented a valid reason for not telling the parents about a safeguarding concern (while still raising the concern), that's one thing. But just ignoring guidance sounds like a bad idea?

Maybe read up about detransitioners - theres a lot of them about

Good question.
Only the courts can remove parental rights / responsibilities. Even the parents of children in care still retain their rights and must be consulted about all events in a child's life. Yet countless schools believe the fake advice put out by the adult trans groups over keen on transitioning children.
The only reason parents haven't taken this to court is because their mentally unwell, fragile child is at the centre of this and they're reluctant to make things worse with a court case.

Schools should not be part of kids transitioning. The school I work at is all too keen to change kids names and pronouns and keep it secret from parents. I hate it. Especially with all the evidence to say it's not a neutral act

And yes - if there's a safeguarding concern, then you use safeguarding procedures - not dodgy advice from trans groups.
FWIW, many teachers with safeguarding responsibilities will have had experience of contacting physically abusive parents to tell them about an allegation before social workers visit because the principle of parental awareness / involvement is embedded in practice. Schools are often expected to tell parents they've made a referral. (There are exceptions to this "rule" - sexual abuse, where the perpetrator may not be known, where the risk to the child is great etc but the principle of working with parents is key.