Teachers walk tightropes in face of no trans guidance

[IwantToRetire]

Using the survey tool Teacher Tapp, BBC News asked almost 7,000 teachers in England a series of questions about their experience with transgender pupils.

About 8% of primary-school teachers said they taught trans or non-binary pupils, compared with 75% in secondary.

And just over half said they would not be very or at all confident about the next steps to take if a child wanted to change their name, use different pronouns or change their appearance, hairstyle or clothes - what is known as socially transitioning.

When and how schools should involve parents if a child wishes to identify as a gender different to their birth sex - and what to do if a parent disagrees - are among the most controversial matters the guidance is expected to address.

A report into gender-identity services in England says socially transitioning may have significant psychological effects - and better information is needed about its outcomes.

And last year, an NHS England consultation proposed socially transitioning should be considered in certain circumstances only, such as to alleviate or prevent "clinically significant distress".

About three-quarters of the teachers in the Teacher Tapp survey said their school would support a child who wished to socially transition.

And 39% of the secondary teachers who responded said they would support this, regardless of parental consent.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-65473198

When you listen to all the detransitioners, they all say that affirmation cemented their view that this was the answer to their problems.

I'm listening to one now who was told at the first consultation that wanting short hair was text book gender dysphoria. And who luckily had their own doctor at the clinic that could prescribe puberty blokers.

And the reason people affirm is that everyone is too scared of losing their jobs/houses/family/friends due to activists and colleagues to question anything.

What is it going to take to break this spell?

There is also testimony from teachers, school staff, pupils and parents on Free To Speak

Concern is increasing over the content of lessons taught via the relationships and sex education (RSE) curriculum.

The overspill from lessons into school policies and environments is creating a culture in which safeguarding is regularly overridden in favour of ideological positions.

Free To Speak wants to help you to voice your concerns about RSE teaching and the policies in your child's school, or the educational setting in which you work.

Gender Theory In Schools

Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is now a statutory part of the curriculum in all areas of the UK. However, unregulated external providers are producing factually inaccurate materials for use in schools that are developmentally inappropriate and often completely ignore normal safeguarding protocols. These materials are widely used to fulfil the government requirements for teaching RSE. None of them are accredited by the DfE or properly monitored by regulatory bodies.

Department for Education guidance states that parents should be involved in the development of the RSE curriculum and shown the materials that will be used. Some schools are refusing to allow the viewing of materials, often citing copyright infringement.

Department for Education guidance also states that political issues, such as gender theory, are taught with a ‘balanced presentation of opposing views’ and that children should not be exposed to oversexualised content in the RSE curriculum.

Some materials are shockingly explicit, promote extreme sexual behaviours and are not age-appropriate in any way. Very little balance is provided and contested ideas are presented as fact. Other resources use harmful stereotypes to suggest that someone who doesn’t conform to gender stereotypes may really be the opposite sex.

The overspill of gender theory from the classroom into school policies and environments is evident in the growing number of gender-neutral or mixed sex changing facilities and accommodation, the practice of children being socially transitioned without the involvement of parents and even some schools promising children absolute confidentiality – a safeguarding red flag.
Free To Speak aims to demonstrate that these issues are found in all the nations across the UK and all types of settings – in private and state schools, primary schools, middle and secondary schools, post-16 settings, and in single sex and faith schools.

Help us show how widespread the problems are.

We need your testimony to demonstrate that teaching of contentious gender theory isn't just a problem created by a few activist schools and teachers, but one of a wider culture within education that overrides facts and evidence in favour of an ideological agenda.

If you are a concerned parent, teacher, pupil or staff member, we want you to add your anonymous testimony to our growing body of evidence.

We are many and we want to tell our stories

We come from every part of the UK and cover every stage of education for under 18s.

The problems are widespread and many who speak out via our website have felt unable to do so publicly, for fear of negative reactions.

Resources, policies and environments which do not prioritise facts, truth and the safety and dignity of all pupils should be open to challenge, as safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility.

We want to help anyone who has concerns to speak out – safely and anonymously.

Read all the stories

https://freetospeak.co.uk/testimonials/

God those stories are TERRIFYING.

Such total safeguarding failures in schools.

One thing in common is parents being ignored or attacked (e.g. by social services being called) when they question or challenge anything. In the case where social services were called, no fault was found, but the school is continuing to act in an aggressive way toward the parent and teacher gender identity ideology as the only facts around and not respecting science based beliefs. Utterly awful.

Awful awful stories from so many parents. It's hard to believe that so many schools and teachers have abandoned safeguarding children & promote a regressive, homophobic, anti women ideology.

SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT!!! About time some grown ups write some guidelines. The Cass report can’t come soon enough.

Cass remit doesn't cover education - just healthcare.

TBH I think that's a major flaw.

I think you need all services working together and from the same playbook (and I'd include social work in that category as well).

The Cass pushback on affirmative support models risks being undermined if social care and education aren't following suit.

DofE guidance is due out "soon", BASW (social work) have promised guidance for years now and there's zero sign (or a proposed date) of publication.

They're all cowards (Cass excepted) and far too scared of the tantrums that will result from proper safeguarding around GI issues.

I think it's going to take parents taking legal action. I would definitely contribute to a crowdfund for a class action against a school pushing this onto kids. The number of testimonies where loads of kids are ID-ing as trans as soon as they start their secondary school with activist teachers whilst showing no signs before. Imagine if it were children starting a new school and all suddenly becoming scientologists or something? And that doesn't risk irreversible drugs and body modification (as far as I know - don't honestly know a lot about scientology).

I am so thankful that I am not having to deal with this during this period of time.

Not only is it so unnerving knowing that some schools would not tell parents, but it is all so random.

Your child's life could be totally changed forever by some chance interaction because of one lone teacher.

There really should be clearer guidelines so that teachers know what their responsibility and so that parents can have certainty about what influences their child might come under in school.

Given that the NSPCC, Childline, Social Services, teacher's unions & even Ofsted have all been captured by Stonewall & other fetish centred adult activist groups, we shouldn't be surprised that some schools don't have the insight or integrity to prioritise children's safety. Add to that a cohort of young teachers exiting captured universities and the pressure to comply with these demands is massive.
It seems parents are the last protection that children have as our government is completely useless.

Sorry for the DM link, schools still using Stonewall

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12109299/Sex-education-guidance-schools-includes-Stonewall-gender-claims.html

Joshua Sutcliffe, 33, was ruled by the Teaching Regulation Authority (TRA) to have failed to treat a pupil with “dignity and respect”. He was also found to have failed to protect the pupil's wellbeing when he did not use the preferred pronouns of a girl who identified as a boy.

Teacher who 'misgendered' pupil banned from profession (yahoo.com)

What a sinister coincidence that the group responsible for judging if someone is fit to be a teacher has the acronym TRA.