Kemi Badenoch letter to OFSTED re Rye college

[LurkingInTheAtrium]

Key paragraphs:

"As you will be aware, the UK courts have ruled that gender critical beliefs – the belief that sex is biological and immutable, that people cannot change their sex and that sex is distinct from gender-identity – are classed as a philosophical belief worthy of respect in a democratic society and are therefore a protected characteristic under section 10 of the Equality Act 2010. Through her behaviour, including her assertion that the pupils’ beliefs were ‘despicable’, my view is that the teacher was not acting in a way consistent with the Equality Act’s requirements upon schools, nor in accordance with Ofsted’s Education Inspection Framework’s requirements to promote respect for the different protected characteristics as defined in law.

In addition, by apparently teaching contested political beliefs as fact – including that there are ‘lots of genders’ or that ‘gender is not linked to the parts that you were born with’ – beliefs which are both politically controversial and have no scientific basis – it appears to me that the teacher was in breach of the political impartiality requirements set out in Articles 406 and 407 of the Education Act 1996."

Go Kemi!

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-from-minister-for-women-and-equalities-to-the-ofsted-chief-inspector?

Excellent letter. I agree with her 100%.

Absolutely awesome. Well done Kemi!!!

Brilliant!

Yessss

The ASCL:

www.ascl.org.uk/News/Our-news-and-press-releases/ASCL-comment-on-Kemi-Badenoch%E2%80%99s-letter-to-Ofsted

If I were them, I'd either keep quiet or, if I felt I absolutely had to weigh in, say something about welcoming a review and looking forward to the results.

Gotta love Kemi!
Says it as it is..

👏👏👏 well said Kemi.

Great - but does this mean I might have to vote Tory for the first time in my life?
I emailed Ed Davey and Keir Starmer about TWAW without a response, but got a positive reply straightaway from my female Tory MP.

“Intolerant and burdensome”

Shut up, Women. Stop trying to Safeguard ffs

That’s great, good stuff Kemi

Geoff Barton's right about this though:

On the separate subject of guidance over matters affecting transgender pupils, we have spent the past five years constantly asking the government to provide a sensible and practical set of guidance to schools about how they should navigate this sensitive territory, but they have been left to do this entirely on their own and without any support whatsoever.

Why do women in prison have to refer to male inmates as she? Why are their gender critical beliefs not respected?

From the ASCL letter:

the school has said that no pupils identify as a cat or any other animal.

I lost count of the number of scoldings delivered on threads here and elsewhere on MN discussing the original teacher-pupil interaction saying that the main problem was that the pupil had made a personal attack on another pupil over their catself identity.

One problem with those who uphold gender identity ideology is that they will make up anything if it supports the argument they're trying to make.

I have to admit I think they both make very good points! But Geoff should do his research on how students are identifying rather than pontificating from his tower.

It's excellent

I am starting to feel slightly sorry for the teacher in all this purely because so many orgs around teaching (charities etc ) have said exactly the stuff she said and so she believes it to be true.

No one is officially saying otherwise.

Barton is right that schools have had no guidance on this.

Kemi's letter is excellent but the tories are fucking culpable here.

I think for many the recording was a total exposure of where gender ideology is going in schools

It’s been so secretive and kept from parents so far, the girls did us a huge favour

I see the ACSL have hidden their guidance on transgender pupils so it can only be accessed by members. Wonder why? No wonder Barton's claiming "nothing to see here".

I also recall that Ofsted were until recently members of Stonewall and apparently downgraded inspections for several primary schools for failing to teach about gender identity (amongst other criticisms).

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10931423/Ofsted-cites-lack-gender-identity-teaching-primaries-factor-inspection-reports.html

More girls speaking out:

Two 14yo girls write to Gillian Keegan www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4833788-two-14yo-girls-write-to-gillian-keegan

None of the guidance, awful incorrect and illegal as it was/is, told teachers that if young students in their care disagreed they were despicable and should be told so.

In addition, by apparently teaching contested political beliefs as fact – including that there are ‘lots of genders’ or that ‘gender is not linked to the parts that you were born with’ – beliefs which are both politically controversial and have no scientific basis – it appears to me that the teacher was in breach of the political impartiality requirements set out in Articles 406 and 407 of the Education Act 1996."

This REALLY bothers me though. No one is joining the dots.

I've been subjected to this, and worse, in my mandatory EDI training at work. I've had to sit through slides on how being a lesbian is about 'same gender' attraction and how drugs can be 'life saving' for gender dysphoria.

How can they be calling this out in schools but not recognising that anything to do with gender is 'beliefs which are both politically controversial and have no scientific basis' ?!

It's gaslighting isn't it? Coerce people, including children, to refer to sex as ,"gender" and when they do this, to mean sex, scold them for using "gender" incorrectly, because if they meant to say "sex", that's what they should have said.

This isn't the way a bona fide civil rights movement operates.

Absolutely QuickWash. And in relation to schools, organisations who openly call for the removal of single sex sports, single sex changing, washing and sleeping facilities for girls, let alone the removal of sex based language, are by definition political lobby groups. So schools inviting Stonewall, Gendered Intelligence, GIRES, Global Butterflies, the paedophile scandal hit Mermaids, Educate & Celebrate or any of the numerous queer theory activist groups must by definition be in breach of political impartiality guidelines.

I've been pointing this out to my MP for years. 😡

"It's gaslighting isn't it?"

yes, I think so. Being taught these beliefs as fact really is.