Schools - any sense the trend is waning?

[tobee]

My dc are long past school age. And pretty much missed the trend anyway.

Just wondering if any parents or teachers are seeing any evidence that declaring yourself trans or non binary etc is going out of style?

Just asking for an overview based on anecdote fwiw.

Even though there seems to have been a shift since Cass etc I'm hoping this is reflected in our young people.

I'm particularly interested in what's coming from the students rather than what schools are doing.

I'm getting the distinct impression from DD (just finished GCSEs) that being trans and non-binary is seen as a bit eye-rolly these days, and a sign that the person is probably going to be hard work. A couple of years ago that definitely wasn't the case

It doesn’t seem very prevalent at my DDs school. For this I am grateful as she is ASD and has already expressed that she thinks she might be gay. This is completely fine but I want her to have the space to contemplate these feelings without it being confused with being transgender.

We live in a pretty poor inner city area . I have always struggled with this and felt guilty that can’t provide my children with a nice peaceful life in a leafy suburb away from drug dealing and knife crime. However I find when it comes to gender woo being in a poor area is a blessing. People have more pressing problems and don’t tend to give time to gender identity. I think it’s more of a ‘luxury belief’? It’s also majority South Asian and most of the families have pretty conservative religious beliefs. Being gay is controversial enough!

I think once the current year 9s are out of the school system it will all just feel like a bad dream, a bit like lockdown.

Defo agree. Certainly waning at the secondary school I teach at.

Well, we now have our first trans member of staff, which is a whole new can of worms.

Hmm, indeed

I want to be hopeful and largely am optimistic. But could well be naive.

My slight worry is that the demographic most taken by this craze are eventually going to end up running things...

That might help, if anything makes something unfashionable it’s when adults are doing it too.

https://x.com/snehpetsdrahcir/status/1801175935317573914?s=46&t=ZX_bLozRqm8etdGICMcAvA

This appeared on a Twitter/X a few days ago re a decline in demand for NHS gender services for under 18s. As it says there are caveats (I guess some using private services, etc) but if you have access to X it explains more.

Thank you DogsAkimbo, you have cheered me up!

There are a few trans kids in my DD's year (13), but they seem to be respectfully tolerated and not taken very seriously at all. Most are also ASD. There is a some eye rolling over the frequent changing of names and pronouns. I asked her how she keeps up and she said "I just tap them on the shoulder" 🤣🤣🤣

I don't think there's much chance of my daughter being pressured into anything, which was what I feared before she went to high school.

My DC are primary and there is unfortunately a definite wave of 'being kind'. A friend of DC came to our house with some toy animals. All with men's names. I said "why no female animals?" And she went on a long explanation about gender fluidity and how David can be a girl's name. This child is 7 so will have got this from her parents.

I for one am delighted that my yr 11 daughter is now fully 'out' as a lesbian after saying she is trans/none binary for a couple of years. Get the impression there's less kids saying they are t/nb in her school now.

Yes. The trans kids from primary have detransitioned. DDs school has one NB 'nobody really likes them, they're weird and my school is full of homophobic chavs'

So, that's the view of a 13 year old in UK state school. Sounds like business as usual untouched by trends. Schools are not especially great places to be for pupils.

Definitely on the decline at the school I teach at. A couple of years ago it was definitely a thing. Much less now. As soon as something becomes mainstream, kids get bored. A trans teacher is an easy way for something to become uncool.

I guess we are now only seeing the genuinely struggling students. As mentioned before, these students are often ASD (or suspected) who see things in a very binary way. Don’t like playing football or you fancy boys = female, don’t want long hair/fake nails or you fancy girls = male. Oversimplified but you get the gist.

an increase in trans identified staff from what I'm seeing / hearing

Dd has just left school. In yr 8 there seemed to be about a dozen identifying as trans or NB. One was a cat 🙄

Now at the end of year 11 one girl still identifies as NB “for attention” apparently but looks like a regular girl.

Last year I had an awkward email exchange trying to inform the HT that their Pride / stonewall fundraiser complete with flags, rainbows and coloured clothes was a little problematic, linking to proof. I was basically given a tinkly laugh in reply.

This year - I believe because of the Cass report but I’m guessing - there was no event for Pride, just the “opportunity to wear a colourful accessory” to mark the occasion and no stonewall involved, no fundraising.

And experienced

Those who were caught by this craze 5-3 years ago are now entering the workplace

@OriginalUsername2 I had a similar response from DDs Primary head when I flagged that having the new houses named after only male explorers, several of which had actively and famously participated in the slave trade might be an issue. To be told the staff had thought about it long and hard and it wouldn't be changing.

Well, blow me down with a feather - when the school went back after COVID and importantly after the George Floyd protests and increased Black Lives Matter movement those houses were suddenly North, South, East and West.

Sounds, on the whole, reasonably positive.

I'm also hoping that if students are struggling with mh they are getting proper help rather than social media/classmates whoever thinking transing is the fix all.

Yes of course but hopefully they will have changed their minds. What we do at 13/14/15 usually becomes "what was I thinking?"

My year 10 - it's definitely seriously uncool to be trans/NB now and there are desisters, though mine was always a sceptic.

My year 7 - bemused by the trans/NB in the year, and when we had a parent zoom re the school residential the parent of said child asked in the chat what accomodation would be provided for trans and non binary (after the teacher said sleeping accomodation is single sex)- deafening silence. I think a few years ago there would have been fawning from other parents, now tumbleweed.

So progress towards sanity I think - I think the teens will get there before the captured staff though.

I have older teens and they are definitely in the cringe/eye roll camp - but never really sucked in. 13y old is a bit more 'but don't we have to be kind and trans rights?' since starting secondary school, but it is rapidly waning now that PHSE has become his most despised lesson after he was given a detention in y7 for saying well ok then I identify as a spoon then when the silly teacher (now gone thankully) was telling them about th ekid identifying as a cat and that you can identify as whatever you want.

My impression is that the schools have used the Cass report and draft government guidelines to as an excuse to be able to drop it all a bit.

Deffo on the wane and simile to one pp, my 14 year old is now firmly a lesbian, having been through a brief non binary stage. Thank fuck.

My kids are in a city centre school where it's been hugely popular for 5-6years and has definitely changed from a sense of that child being deep and special to eye rolling at the attention seekers. It's definitely waning.

A few genuinely troubled kids are grouped in with the dramatic/look at me kids, which is a shame as they don't get real help

I have friends who moved out to the villages and it's just getting going there, parents falling over themselves to pander to the first non binary kid in the village school.

So I think it depends on where you are.