What are my rights ad a teacher?

[BetterBee]

Hello, I was wondering if fellow teachers or those with knowledge on the subject could help me. I'm just wondering if I must follow the school’s guidance relating to trans rights, pronouns etc.

I had to teach a 15 minute session to my form on using preferred pronouns and had guidance on the pre prepared powerpoint that basically was telling the kids it's okay to forget but basically you must use them. I didn't deliver it exactly as they planned!

I would also want to refuse to use a child's preferred pronouns if I believed it wasn't in their best interest.

I basically wondering if I'd lose my job over it.

@BetterBee

I would also want to refuse to use a child's preferred pronouns if I believed it wasn't in their best interest.

Can you explain this further? In what circumstances do you believe it wouldn't be in the best interest of a child to use his/her/their preferred pronoun?

How often would it be an issue? Could you simply defer to using the child's name in most circumstances? Eg. "Can you pass David the pen, please," instead of "Can you pass them the pen, please."

If OP is aware of the Cass interim report she may understand that social transitioning is not a neutral act.

No child can legally change sex.

OP I'd love to be able to reassure you but I'm afraid I can't.

There have been court cases over this. Sex Matters may be able to offer advice. Teachers really need clear, impartial guidance and I hope it comes soon.

@NefertitiV as said by pp it's not a neutral act. Also, once a child starts transitioning it becomes very difficult for them to backtrack.

@BetterBee Can you explain this further? In what circumstances do you believe it wouldn't be in the best interest of a child to use his/her/their preferred pronoun?

Amd what about the best interests of the class as a whole and the other children? Some of them might have been in classes together since they were 4 years old. They know who is male and who is female.

If responsible adults in a position of trust start lying about the sex of someone in the class, why should children trust them about anything. Literally anything?

I had to teach a 15 minute session to my form on using preferred pronouns and had guidance on the pre prepared powerpoint that basically was telling the kids it's okay to forget but basically you must use them. I didn't deliver it exactly as they planned

What do you mean by that last sentence?

I read this article just this morning...

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13205469/Teacher-sacked-refusing-treat-eight-year-old-boy-concerns-childs-welfare.html

Its a fucking minefield OP. Tread carefully.

The teacher is this case was apparently sacked for raising concerns about socially transitioning an 8 year old girl. Obviously with all these casess, we never know the precise details until they're in court but if you look at the Rachel Meade case (social worker) it's evident that the pressure on professionals to follow Stonewall law and abandon safeguarding children is immense. Rachel won her case and the local authority and Social Work England came over terribly in court.

There was a consultation on proposed guidance, don’t know if you saw it? https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/gender-questioning-children-draft-schools-and-colleges-guidance

The government's new guidelines on gender questioning children will help a bit but they are being challenged. There's some evidence that the Equality Act & Gender Reassignment ACT were written to include children of any age, which if true, means that returning to safeguarding children from the toxic belief that their bodies are wrong and a sex change will fix them, will be more complicated.
This is the reality of what we're doing psychologically to young children when adults pretend they're the opposite sex:

https://www.transgendertrend.com/childhood-social-transition/

What a superb read that is. Heartbreaking too but it all makes complete sense. It is child abuse and nothing less.

Had this recently. Dd put her hand up and said people should be able to do what they want but girls need to keep their single sex spaces. She’s a “popular” one so all the other girls agreed (girls school). The teacher got quite tearful and said “I’m so proud of you girls”. And that was that!

Thanks to mumsnet for educating me so I have inculcated the next generation!

It is child abuse in so many ways - not just for the child involved but also in upending the understanding of every other child. Stating that someone they know to be a boy is now a girl and presenting it as a fact is just wrong. Nothing wrong in saying "Fred wants to wear a dress today and that's fine" but insisting that he's now a she is a form of emotional abuse to a young child.

I think it varies massively school by school. My school has some activist teacher and me battling it out behind the scenes. The upshot of this is their attempt to make it compulsory for staff to use preferred pronouns hasn't been successful. They hate me but they can't get me fired as SLT have my back (not sure they have strong views either way, they are just petrified of 'both sides' and try to hold a middle line). I'm lucky in that I'm a long standing and senior member of staff who has a lot of the staffroom agreeing with me, and also I made a deal with myself that I would lose my job over this is if necessary (luckily DH could support me in the short term) so have the confidence to stand up. I know not everyone is in that position.

I'm in a very similar position but in secondary school. We have more than 6 individuals who are already socially transitioned.

I am totally unwilling to use the pronouns of their choice - I am not lying. I avoid this by using them and they but even this doesn't sit right with me. Two of these individuals are an utter nightmare and have zero respect for the school system. One transgirl is hoping to get on a school trip abroad next year (taking payments next month) and that's going to be a nightmare as they're already planning their rooms with their girlfriends with their Mum 's support.

It's a real problem to me. I refuse to change reality for them so I can foresee trouble for me.

Hopefully @NobbyNobbs the gender questioning guidelines will be in place for the trip and they make it clear about no mixed sex sharing.
Sounds as if you've got the measure of them. This is a behavioural issue - all the intense "look at me" stuff that so often undermines the learning of others and makes teachers anxious - which is the last way you want to feel when you're managing a classroom of teenagers.

Ultimately there's no law that says we should use particular pronouns for anyone.

It comes under a belief or opinion that you can be a different sex. If I were in this situation I'd probably say something along the lines of "some people believe ..."

I'd also point out that it's potentially discriminatory against children and adults with learning difficulties and also anyone with English as a foreign language.

But I appreciate the conditions in a school and delivering pre prepared slides is a very difficult area.

Thank you. That has taken immense courage.

@ValancyRedfern thank you for standing up, especially within a school environment.

@saraclara I started some of my sentences with some people believe…. Talked about how it's okay to have differing beliefs. I spoke about talking to me (or someone they're comfortable with) later if you have any questions.

I saw the news article with the teacher refusing to use preferred pronouns too. I know the whole story wouldnt have been told but it definitely concerns me.

@NefertitiV

Thin end of the wedge, though IMHO

How is it in a child's best interests to go along with their belief that they are not the sex that in reality they are? I'm sure I read somewhere that calling a child by opposite sex pronouns can actually make their self loathing worse because they now see the wrong body parts for the sex that people (including trusted adults) around them agree that they are.

Which then puts them on the road to medicalisation

Thanks or the supportive post @MrsOvertonsWindow that means a lot. Despite the huge pushback since JKR's vocal stance on this, I have been following this for 12 years and attended so many Speaker's Corners and Women's Place meetings. I've lost friends - even my own Godson who I helped raise publicly calls me a transphobe and has nothing to do with me. I've got very supportive colleagues who agree with me, but like OP, there's two forceful staff members who are activitists and fully trans supportive to the detriment of all our other pupils. The pronoun thing comes in cycles at out school and I've been equally as vocal in my objections but a recent change in SLT may see me in deep-water.

Sorry for the slight de-rail OP, but a school post like this always catches my attention. We are battling so many variables there - more than the normal workplace environment on this (and that's hard enough) because when you throw children/teenagers in the mix, it becomes so emotive.

Good post.

It is a minefield. I had to do a similar session with my KS3 (girls' school) tutor group recently. The content provided wasn't terribly forceful, and I definitely delivered it in a way that allowed for differing opinions. I avoided directly giving my own opinion, but did a fair bit of 'Some people think that...'. Some of the girls expressed confidently common-sense, pro-science views, but in a very non-confrontational way. Others disagreed a bit, but overall they were quite thoughtful and listened to the other side.

It would have been a very different conversation with some other classes in the school - we have only a couple of students who say they are trans, but quite a lot who would describe themselves as non-binary. SLT have not said too much about the gender issue, except to tell us not to address classes as 'girls' (even though the school is called xxx girls' school and they chose to attend a girls' school ).