Teachers Say They Won’t Tell Parents if Child Says They Are Trans

Ahead of U.K. Government guidance recommending that teachers inform parents if a child expresses a desire to change gender, some teachers have declared their intention to defy the directive – even if it means risking dismissal. The Mail has the story.

Their defiance came in response to a query on an internet teaching forum asking what they thought about “the Government proposing guidance for schools to potentially outing trans kids/kids questioning their identity/gender norms, to their parents”.

One wrote: “I’m a gay teacher and I’d refuse to do this if a child came to me in confidence.” …

It has also emerged that several branches of Britain’s biggest teaching union, the National Education Union, had published an open letter urging the Government not to make teachers keep parents informed if a child said they wanted to change gender. …

The letter said it was “not always appropriate – or even necessarily safe – to alert parents and carers to a child’s gender identity (or their sexuality)” and that schools should have to “make robust risk assessments before any such disclosure”. It also cites advice from the LGBT charity Stonewall that schools should not disclose information that could reveal a child’s “trans status” to others, including parents and carers, unless there is a safeguarding risk or the young person gives permission.

However, last year, Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman said it was a “safeguarding risk” for schools to not tell parents their child was questioning their gender identity.

Worth reading in full.