“Social transition” in schools
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The Cass Review – initial analysis
The Cass Review of gender-identity services for children and young people has published its final report and recommendations. Sex Matters says: This is a breakthrough. It’s a huge step forward, with multiple implications that will be hugely consequential.
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The Cass Review is a damning indictment of what the NHS has been doing to children
Dr Hilary Cass has submitted her final report and recommendations to NHS England in her role as Chair of the Independent Review of gender identity services for children and young people. Hilary Cass’s report demolishes the entire basis for the current model of treating gender-distressed children. Its publication is...
10th April 2024
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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The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published its response to the Department for Education’s draft guidance for schools in England on gender-questioning children.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An analysis of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s response to the Department for Education’s draft guidance for schools on gender-questioning children.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Response to Department for Education draft guidance for schools on gender-questioning children
Our final response (after our draft response) to the DfE’s draft guidance for consultation, published in December 2023.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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Will you ask your MP to support a bill to protect women and children?
This Friday a private member’s bill in the House of Commons presents MPs with a chance to discuss changing the law to clarify the meaning of “sex” in the Equality Act, stop the social transitioning of children in schools and ban healthcare providers from prescribing puberty blockers and cross-sex...
11th March 2024
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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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Statement on the UK government’s new guidance on sex and gender in schools
Maya Forstater of Sex Matters
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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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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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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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. -
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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Saying no to school transition
Miriam Cates for The Critic
Social transition in schools is wrong, risky and unfair to children — and the government should ban it. Cates writes about the Department for Education’s draft “trans” guidance leaked to The Sun. -
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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DfE guidance must be clear: schools cannot facilitate “social transition”
Reports about the Department for Education’s forthcoming guidance on trans issues for schools are encouraging, going quite some way towards our recommendations. The Times reports that schools will be told not to allow children to use opposite-sex facilities or play contact sports for the opposite sex, and to tell...
16th April 2023
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Sex and gender identity: keep your pupils safe and comply with the law – guidance for schools in Wales
Our schools guidance, produced together with Transgender Trend, has been revised for schools in Wales. It draws on guidance from the Welsh Government, relevant legislation from the UK government, the interim report of the Cass Review, EHRC guidance, and others. The model policy is now available...
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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
