Still Asleep at the Wheel: A Further Examination of Gender and Safeguarding in Schools - Policy Exchange

[IwantToRetire]

A new report by Policy Exchange reveals that secondary schools in England are still heavily influenced by gender ideology. Too many secondary schools are socially transitioning gender-distressed children without reliably informing parents, failing to adhere to their safeguarding responsibilities and compromising the rights and interests of other children in school.

The report includes FOI research assessing schools’ policies, replicating an identical round of FOI research carried out for Asleep at the Wheel: An Examination of Gender and Safeguarding in Schools in 2023.

Despite some progress, particularly regarding the provision of single-sex toilets and changing rooms, we found that many schools still lack adequate policies. In a minority of schools, it appears that contested beliefs about gender identity remain embedded: staff support children to begin a social transition in the school environment and teach contested ideas as fact. In other schools, staff are failing to uphold their safeguarding duties, as they do not reliably involve parents, the Designated Safeguarding Lead, or a medical professional. The interests of other children are often compromised, as all children are required adopt a transitioning child’s new name and pronouns.

Moreover, many schools permit a child to self-identify as a different gender and participate in sports activities with opposite sex. We found that:

• 70% and 73% of schools maintain single-sex toilets and changing rooms.
• 43% of secondary schools reliably inform parents when a child discloses feelings of gender distress.
• 58% of schools reliably involve a safeguarding lead or medical professional in these cases.

More than one third of schools do not maintain single-sex sports.
The report calls for the Government to amend the draft statutory guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026, on which it is currently consulting.

As Baroness Falkner of Margravine, former Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said in her Foreword to the report:

“Schools require greater clarity and authoritative guidance, consistently enforced. They carry a significant responsibility and must be supported to understand how to discharge their duties lawfully, consistently, and with confidence.”

https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/still-asleep-at-the-wheel/

Going to court, to protect your teenaged daughter from being forced to undress in front of boys and provide them with her body to validate what they say is going on between their ears is..... violence.

I've heard it all now.

All I've said it that it isnt always the right thing for the child to be forced to disclose to their parents.

So you've got all the kids in the school knowing, all the teachers knowing, all the other parents knowing, and also the child's siblings should they have any, but not the parents of the actual child??

Jusy think about it for a minute. What the hell do you think they're going to be thinking when they find out.

Plus your choice of language, 'forcing the child to disclose'. It's very one-sided and very emotive.

Think just for one moment why a parent might be really and very justifiably angry about what is being done to his child?

Would you listen to him if he spoke to you in his nice voice?

And a lot of people spent a lot of yesterday doing their best to explain to you about safeguarding and how it works.

Sadly, from my direct experience and from reports of many concerned parents, your blanket confidence is misplaced.

We have found out by bitter experience (and harm to children) again and again that allowing individuals to decide when the rules apply to them is not good.

Not to mention to put decisions about vulnerable children and safeguarding into the hands of adults with no real knowledge or understanding, but very strong opinions and a belief that those opinions justify whatever they feel they want to do.

They didn’t find the conversation irrelevant. They went away and did their own research- kick started by the resources I shared (which included Mermaids and NHS by the way as I thought it was important to be even handed and transparent). They spoke to ex pupils who they had supported to social transition in recent years and found that they were not doing well and were certainly not thriving.

They then introduced a more robust policy.

Your perspective is making the point loud and clear that teachers/anyone should not be making clinically significant decisions about someone else’s child without parental involvement. No one knows or cares for a child like their parents and the idea that schools should throw decades of safeguarding knowledge out of the window to enable a maths teacher (for example) to feel good about themselves based on a pity piece they read in the Guardian (or their Non Binary niece) is frankly absurd.

That you work with children is a concern.

We have seen this happening over and over recently. Safeguarding failures such fetishists in Girlguiding and other harmful fails in youth organisations. Allowing those people contact with children and allowing them to shape safeguarding policies.

That's how safeguarding used to work. A child would disclose something and a teacher might, or might not, take any action dependent on whether they believed the child, knew the adult, liked the child etc.

There's a history of dreadful cases in schools where paedophile rings operated with impunity and it turned out that colleagues ignored signs and disclosures from children for years.

There's a reason for the formality of safeguarding guidance in schools and it defies belief that some argue for the right to make their own decisions.

There is no "but in some special circumstances some people are special enough to make decisions on a case-by-case basis" loophole in safeguarding. This is so fucking basic!

Thanks to all the grown-ups who have patiently explained this more politely than myself.

Coming in here with your toxic masculinity :D

You don't get it. I see why this man was referenced when I was talking about performative wokeness, white feminism and virtue signalling.

Yes of course there are. Professionals make decisions that keep the child as safe and well as they can be. Those decisions aren't one size fits all. I use that phrase because that was the serious case reviews specifically said we should stop doing

Ate those parents who felt they should be informed when their children didnt trust them enough to feel comfortable disclosing to them?

This isnt an issue in homes where the child feels supported and trusts the adults around them. This happens when a child fears telling their parents because they find them at best unsupportive and at worst, abusive.

If your kids trust you, you won't be in this situation where professionals are deciding whether it is safe for you to know information about your kids.

I think he sounds like the angry dad's that I protect children from all the time.

A couple.years ago I.worked with a lovely young girl who was school refusing, why? Becauae her father had a bee in his bonnet about something, embarrassed her in front of the whole school and was extremely aggressive to her female teachers.

He had 50/50 custody. We thankfully helped her and her mum get it changed so she was not expected to spend that time with him any more. He didnt give a shit about her schooling. He just wanted another medium where he could control and dominate.

What he's tried to do is get the school to agree with him. They won't.

The bee in the bonnet in this instance is a school wilfully breaking the law, impacting every single pupil. The parent has sought legal advice after all other avenues (polite, factual letter writing referencing the law and querying safeguarding and insurancy policies) have been exhausted. The child's anonymity has been maintained. No individual teachers have been named or confronted. Can you explain why you think this is aggressive?

Your posts certainly reveal alot about yourself, perhaps not in the way you envisage.

There's an article about this and other stuff on the same subject by Baroness Faulkner in the Telegraph

archive.ph/RGHdz

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04/21/labours-dithering-is-putting-women-and-girls-at-risk/

The bit at the beginning about how unprepared Labour were when going into Government 😬

No i think your language and behaviour is violent and toxic. Not your intention. Other women think that about you here, too. Its why I knew who you were right away. They discuss it openly.

Yes and you support them until they disagree with you and then you turn on them and threaten to collapse the whole case. Why? Because you don't really care about the issue. As I said, you were cited as an example of performative feminism. A man who does this to gain favour and power but really has no interest in the underlying issues or those affected by it.

Can we have an example of violent language please?

I think you’ve redefined this term without telling anyone.

where is the violent behaviour please?

The other dad had a really good point too. His was about toilets even, but being able to use the toilet freely. I agree with him. What nobody agreed with is how he went about it, how he behaved towards staff and how he dismissed his daughter's worsening mental health in his quest to be right.

That is why his daughter ultimately distanced herself from him as soon as she knew she could without her mum getting in trouble.

SingleSexSpacesInSchools has posted his correspondence with various authorities on his ongoing threads on this subject. You can check for yourself, but I saw nothing violent or toxic in the formal requests for clarity on safeguarding and the law with respect to changing rooms in his daughter's school.

His posts on Mumsnet are not relevant to the court case.

"Be afraid of me". That general tone. Apparently its the kind of thing he resorts to when challenged by women. I see these men all the time. We have them in just about every powerful position. I know how they act when they speak to female professionals, too. They usually threaten the police, the law, social services for your kids, any sort of authority where white middle classed men rule, they will remind you that they are their friends.

Its a bit like Piers Morgan. Cathartic when he agrees with you, massive arsehole the rest of the time.

Maybe speak to some of the other GC women about this man.

You are throwing down some fairly nasty accusations about someone that many of us have been interacting with for a substantial amount of time. Would you care to share links to these open discussions that other women on here are having? Because I seem to have missed them.