Teachers Say Trans Guidance Designed to Protect Children Is “Divisive”

A new poll has raised concerns that teachers might revolt against the Conservative Government’s new trans guidelines aimed at protecting children. The Telegraph has the details.

The long-awaited guidelines, published late last year by the Conservative Government, were intended to provide some clarity for teachers on how to deal with the rising number of children questioning their gender.

It came amid concern that schools were allowing pupils to change their gender identity without their parents’ knowledge, and stated that families should be informed if their child wished to adopt a new name and pronouns.

However, a recent poll by Teacher Tapp, a survey app, found that nearly two thirds of teachers who have read the draft guidance think it is “more divisive than helpful”.

It has prompted fears from campaigners that teachers could revolt over new guidelines on the basis that they are ideologically opposed to them.

The poll, published over the summer, found that a majority of teachers – 57% – had still not read the guidance some six months after it was published.

But of those who had, 63% described it as “more divisive than helpful”, while just 16% said they welcomed the clarification.

It is unclear whether Labour will decide to implement the guidance, which was published by the Tories in draft form and never brought into force.

It states that schools have no “general duty” to allow a child to “socially transition”, which is when a pupil asks to adopt the pronoun, uniform or use the facilities of their peers of the opposite sex.

The debate comes in the wake of the Cass Review, an independent report into transgender services, which found that children were being hurried down “affirmative” pathways involving powerful drugs and medical interventions.

Helen Joyce, the Director of Advocacy at Sex Matters, the gender-critical campaign group, said the Teacher Tapp survey “showed little sign that teachers have absorbed the messages” of the landmark study.

“The fear is that activist teachers will exploit any wiggle room in the final version and continue to indoctrinate and endanger children or even breach their legal duties by ignoring the guidance entirely,” she added.

Worth reading in full.

Stop Press: A teacher from a Church of England primary school has been dismissed over accusations of racism after calling a group of pupils “chattering monkeys”, according to LBC.