Think tank investigation sparks trans debate in schools
Research conducted by the think tank Policy Exchange has found that more than 40% of 300 secondary schools in England are allowing students to self-declare their gender.
It says, ” schools are increasingly becoming influenced by gender ideology, to the extent that fundamental safeguarding principles are being compromised by school’s approaches to children with gender distress and their peers.”
It also found that over 30% of schools have failed to inform a ‘Designated Safeguarding Lead’ when a child expresses a desire to change their gender, and only 28% said they would inform parents.
The report also found 28% of schools don’t have single-sex toilets, and at least 19% have fluid changing rooms.
“New research within this report demonstrates that many schools are failing to routinely inform parents when a child discloses gender distress, compromising single-sex spaces, and many are teaching gender identity beliefs within Relationships, Sex & Health Education (RSHE) as if they are facts. Gender affirmative care is prevalent within the school system, despite this being at odds with safeguarding principles that have been enshrined in law for decades,” the report’s introduction reads.
“The report also highlights how gender identity beliefs came to be so embedded within the school system, by tracking the influence of external agencies promoting radical and unscientific beliefs within both the Department for Education and schools themselves. This has created a safeguarding blind spot when it comes to the issue of gender, which must be rectified urgently.”
Policy Exchange is a right leaning think tank. Opinion on gender identity and trans issues largely goes hand in hand with left and right politics, with right-leaning publications usually expressing opposition, and left-leaning publications in support.
Here’s how the papers responded. Left-leaning publications mostly focused on Sunak’s response to the report, rather than the details of the report itself, which was used by right-wink outlets to and fuel to the fire around an anti-trans narrative.
Children allowed to self-declare gender at nearly half of schools:
Parents kept in the dark as teachers increasingly turn to external agencies that promote ‘controversial and contested beliefs’, warns report
Children ‘put at risk’ by gender ideology in schools
Daily Mail
front page, 30/03/2023
Schools ‘let pupils switch gender without informing parents’
Schools to receive guidance on gender issues after ‘concerning’ report, says Rishi Sunak
PM pledges trans guidance for schools for summer term
