Teacher told not to use gendered language

[Pregante]

In a teaching observation this month my department head noted as a point for improvement that I should try not to use gendered language when addressing the class. I use boys & girls or ladies & gents depending on the age of the students. She advised this was in order not to potentially offend any trans children. She also mentioned this to some of my other colleagues and gave them the same advice.

I care about my students and would never humiliate anyone. Is this just the norm now? What do I use instead?

Sorry @LadyBracknellsHandbagg I didn’t mean to sound pissy with you. It’s a term in common usage but the sexism is obvious and it’s a bit ridiculous that we are fretting over the possibility of offending a tiny tiny number of kids who think they are non binary vs 50% of the population.

Even assuming we should still be pandering to this nonsense, surely any trans children still come under the umbrella of boys and girls, even if they’re deluded enough think they’re the opposite one to the one they were born?

I think the issue with guys is that it reinforces that male is the default. It might be used in an unisex way but it is still gendered at root.

Would people say ‘a bunch of guys’ and mean a group of women, or would that just apply to men? Would they say ‘look at that guy over there’ and mean a woman?

It used to be normalised to say ‘chairman’ when talking about a woman, but we moved on. This feels retrogressive.

Well said, and with admirable economy - but your username is a misnomer - many??

Ffs!
Pure nonsense .

... spoken in jest.

Shakespeare, I think, without looking it up.

I can’t see where you were ‘pissy’ with me?!

I work in a boys school. I call them “boys” all the time. As in “boys, come in quietly and make a start on the work on the board” and “boys, I was proud of how well you did in your test” etc.

This thread is so depressing. How did end up in such a ridiculous situation. We need a complete reset.

This next generation of kids are going to be unbelievably fucked up.

They are certainly going to be shocked at life in the real world where you sometimes need a boatload of resilience.

That’s good @LadyBracknellsHandbagg. I guess female socialisation worked well on me 😀

Smile and ignore.
Boys and girls/girls and boys is sex-based language, not gendered language.
It includes every child in your class.

My grandmother used to take umbrage at the term 'kids' as she said it refers to baby goats. 😆

I taught for 40 years without ever saying 'boys and girls'. It sounds like something out of the 1940s. It wouldn't have occurred to me, and this was long before trans was even a thing. My go to's included things like..

"Okay everyone..."
"Can I have some quiet, people?"
etc etc

I don't know why suddenly it's seen as so hard.

“You ‘orrible lot” is probably not an acceptable alternative, but it’s what my favourite teacher called us.

People, kids, children, group, peeps, folks, gang, class, everyone...there's loads of terms that aren't gendered so unless it's a term not allowed by the school, I'd choose one and always use it.

It isn't hard to say something else. It's just not necessary - there's no good reason for the OP to change.

Friends, Romans, countrymen (yes I’m aware there’s a men in there.)
gentlefolk
my sweet summer children
gremlins
pumpkins
cherubs
come on all you fence posts
i would also continue with boys and girls among the mix but I do think mixing it up with a range of terms is good for keeping gender bias out of it. I would do this for good practice not to pander to the trans craziness.

Thanks all.

For context I'm 10 years in with the top results in the school. I do address the class in other ways but some just roll off the tongue naturally.

I was hoping I'd get some 'just role your eyes and nod along' advice. I'll jump through the hoops when being observed but continue as I am otherwise. If I said 'can I have your attention learners/ learning people' no one would turn around.

The comments about gender gaps in data being such a focus for management discussions is an interesting one....if I can't use the gendered terms maybe they shouldn't use the gendered data?

Everyone
People
Children
Kittens
Turnips
Ducklings
Potatoes

But not for the reasons given.

Yes, I'm pretty sure you're right, using sex-neutral language being encouraged when my dd was in primary school a couple of decades ago, before genderism became so problematic. I'm pretty sure it was generally supported by feminists then; I do too.

Use sexed language where it matters, don't use it where it doesn't.

Not to allow any of those "identifications".

Exactly this. 👍