Schools and safeguarding
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Has the EHRC forgotten about children and safeguarding?
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published its response to the Department for Education’s draft guidance for schools in England on gender-questioning children. It says that DfE’s approach “is compatible with equality and human rights law”, but calls for a clearer explanation of the legal concepts underpinning it. ...
21st March 2024
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What does the law say about “gender-questioning children” in schools?
An analysis of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s response to the Department for Education’s draft guidance for schools on gender-questioning children. See all our updates about this guidance.
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Hung out to dry – the impact of Welsh Government inaction on gender distressed children, their families and their schools
The impact of Welsh Government inaction on gender distressed children, their families and their schools, and a call for urgently needed clear, legally compliant guidance.
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Response to Department for Education draft guidance for schools on gender-questioning children
Our final response (after our draft response) to the DfE’s draft guidance for consultation, published in December 2023. See all our updates about this guidance.
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Evidence-Based Social Work Alliance (EBSWA)
Coalition of practitioners, academics and students in the field of social work. Formed as a response to concerns about the impact of gender-identity theory in their field. Argues that social workers’ legal responsibilities to safeguard children are being put at risk by the lack of an evidence base for...
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Single-sex toilets in schools
Are your daughter’s safety, dignity, health and privacy important at school? Single-sex toilets are being removed in schools despite the Equality Act’s legal protections. The WRN has a range of resources you can use to highlight this problem and talk to your child’s school.
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Responding to the schools guidance consultation
The Department for Education published draft guidance for schools in England on gender-questioning children for consultation at the end of last year. The closing date for responses is 12th March. Sex Matters is publishing its draft response to the consultation today, to help others who are developing their submissions....
1st February 2024
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Sex Matters’ draft response to the Department for Education consultation on guidance for schools on gender-questioning children
Draft version for feedback – read the DfE draft guidance for consultation.
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Lobby groups tell schools to ignore DfE guidance
The Department for Education’s guidance on gender-questioning children was published in December – but many schools are getting materials from organisations they think are trustworthy telling them to ignore it. Below is a summary of what the larger organisations are sending out. Since “The Key” alone reaches more than...
31st January 2024
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Mermaids’ letter shows what the DfE needs to do to make its guidance work for schools
In December 2023, the Department for Education released draft guidance on gender-questioning children for schools and colleges in England. The consultation on this guidance is open until 12th March. The guidance tells schools and colleges that they can and should say “no” to demands to: The guidance is quite...
26th January 2024
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Mixed sex toilets in Wales’ schools
New and refurbished school buildings across Wales are imposing mixed sex toilet facilities on children, reports Merched Cymru. These toilets are not compliant with the law, and present considerable problems, particularly for girls.
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How trans inclusion in sport is harming women and girls
The harms caused include unfair competition and demoralisation; losing out on records, rankings or on opportunities to participate; no consent or being coerced into a mixed-sex environment; a chilling climate of intimidation, fear and silencing; loss of privacy and dignity; and risks to women’s and girls’ physical safety
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The DfE’s schools guidance – the report card
New draft guidance for schools in England has been published by the Department for Education this morning. In January 2023 we set out a 10-point scoring framework for the guidance. We said it should: This morning we mark the DfE’s work. Report card The overall approach is helpful, and...
19th December 2023
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Letter to the EHRC about its technical guidance on the Equality Act
Our letter to Kishwer Falkner and Marcial Boo flags the concerns raised in our post.
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The government needs to put safeguarding first – it should not allow social transitioning in schools
Stephanie Davies-Arai for The Critic
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What is new in the EHRC guidance?
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has today released updated technical guidance on the Equality Act for schools in England and in Scotland. We look at what has changed. Clearer definitions: no child under 18 can change sex The new guidance is more careful and precise about the legal...
22nd September 2023
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NHS issues school trans guide to help teachers, schools and parents after ministers dither on issuing official advice
Connor Stringer for the Mail Online.
NHS say schools should not let kids 'socially transition' without parental consent The advice is designed for NHS staff working with children as well as teachers -
EHRC to correct inaccurate schools guidance
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has written to us to confirm that it is undertaking a rapid review of its 2014 technical guidance for schools and intends to publish a revised version within the coming weeks, correcting the inaccuracies that have been highlighted: “We recognise that since that...
17th September 2023
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Schools are in danger of breaking the law on sex and gender
The Department for Education’s new guidance for schools needs to be produced soon, and it needs to be aligned with the law. Today we publish the UK’s first review of the legal framework on sex and gender in education, and it shows that thousands of schools and colleges in...
4th September 2023
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Keeping children safe as girls and boys in education
The first review of the UK's legal framework on sex and gender in education shows that thousands of schools and colleges in England are in danger of breaching legal requirements due to lack of government guidance and faulty existing guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
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Dear Kemi: will you tackle the technical guidance?
Sex Matters has written to the Minister for Women and Equalities calling on her to ask the Equality and Human Rights Commission to urgently finish its review of the 2014 Technical Guidance For Schools (in England and Scotland) and make clear its conclusions. If the EHRC no longer believes...
3rd September 2023
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Getting to good schools guidance
The Secretary of State for Education is due to release guidance for schools in relation to “gender-questioning” children (who may have the protected characteristic of gender reassignment under the Equality Act). This was delayed at the end of last term as the Department for Education needed more time. In order...
30th August 2023
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It’s wrong to lie to children: The Department of Education should learn this simple lesson
Stephanie Davies-Arai for The Critic.
Davies-Arai traces the history of the government's continually delayed transgender schools guidance, originally due to be published in March 2018. -
Why is the government getting in such a mess over the schools guidance?
It has been reported that Rishi Sunak is planning to delay issuing trans guidance for schools after the Attorney General and government lawyers warned that plans to strengthen it “would be unlawful”. What is it that the Attorney General thinks is unlawful? The sticking point is whether children “should...
19th July 2023
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Schools guidance: the Education Secretary must act
The end of term is getting near, and Secretary of State for Education Gillian Keegan has still not handed in her homework. The critical question that the Department for Education appears to be stumped by is whether they should tell schools that they must consider “socially transitioning” some children,...
14th July 2023
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Why DfE dithering is to blame for the trans cat-fight
Helen Joyce for SchoolsWeek
Cat-identifying children are a distraction from the fact that schools have been left to teach fiction as fact in the absence of clear guidance.