DfE guidance on gender-questioning children
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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The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published its response to the Department for Education’s draft guidance for schools in England on gender-questioning children.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An analysis of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s response to the Department for Education’s draft guidance for schools on gender-questioning children.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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Response to Department for Education draft guidance for schools on gender-questioning children
Our final response (after our draft response) to the DfE’s draft guidance for consultation, published in December 2023.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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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The Department for Education published draft guidance for schools in England on gender-questioning children for consultation at the end of last year.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Draft version for feedback – read the DfE draft guidance for consultation.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In December 2023, the Department for Education released draft guidance on gender-questioning children for schools and colleges in England.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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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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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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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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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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Trans guidance for schools goes round in circles
The long-awaited guidance from the Department for Education on how schools should respond to children with gender issues in school has been delayed again. Schools leaders desperately need guidance on setting rules that are feasible, clear and comply with the Equality Act. The Equality Act 2010 protects people in...
5th July 2023
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Why social transition in schools is not possible and government guidance should say so clearly
It is not possible to treat any child as if they are a member of the opposite sex in a school environment. A clear analysis of the steps involved in social transition reveals that to do so inevitably exposes the child to unacceptable safeguarding risks and infringes other pupils’...
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Schools need clear guidance
The Department for Education has promised to publish new draft guidance on sex and gender for schools and colleges in England before the end of this school year. Schools need simple rules to give children, parents and teachers clear expectations. We are calling on the DfE to spell out that...
21st May 2023
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What guidance from the Department for Education needs to say
As a survey commissioned by Sex Matters and carried out by YouGov last year showed, there has been a huge increase in the number of school pupils identifying as trans or non-binary, alongside huge disagreement about how best to manage this. The one thing that schools agree about is...
13th January 2023
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Don’t water down the schools guidance – a plea from a 14-year-old girl
“Cynthia”, 14, writes… I recently read in The Times that Ministers were seeking a “compromise” concerning the Department for Education’s long-awaited transgender schools’ guidance and, as a 14-year-old-girl in secondary school, to say I am furious is an understatement. It is absolutely vital that we – teenage girls who...
19th October 2022
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Attorney General clarifies the law for schools
In an interview with the Times, Suella Braverman said schools should treat children according to their sex, not their self-identified gender. Sex Matters welcomes Braverman’s comments, which align with Sex Matters’ guidance. The Department for Education is currently drawing up new guidance for schools. Braverman said: “Under-18s cannot get a...
27th May 2022