Safeguarding guidance which recognises the risks of ‘social transitioning’ has finally been published by the Westminster Government after a year in limbo.
When the Department for Education (DfE) published the 2024 version of ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ (KCSIE) last year, it included helpful statements on how schools in England should respond when faced with a child who says they are LGBT. But rather than making this section statutory, a disclaimer stated that those paragraphs remained under review.
That statement has now been removed, meaning that from 1 September, schools and colleges across England must have regard to the guidance. It also stated that the long-awaited guidance on ‘Gender Questioning Children’ and Relationships, Sex and Health Education is expected to be released before September.
Vulnerable
Stonewall-inspired paragraphs were introduced to KCSIE in the 2022 guidance, claiming: “The fact that a child or a young person may be LGBT is not in itself an inherent risk factor for harm.”
However, this phrasing meant that schools were being prevented from acting on the risk that children who adopt a trans identity might harm themselves.
Evidence shows that children who identify as transgender are much more likely to self-harm than children who don’t, and some may also self-medicate with puberty blockers or irreversible cross-sex hormones obtained through the internet from the likes of GenderGP.
The discredited organisation suggests evading the UK’s ban on puberty blockers for children by getting the prescription made up in the name of someone over 18.
Cass review
The 2024 guidance no longer claims that being ‘transgender’ is “not in itself an inherent risk factor for harm”, and drew attention to the Cass Review’s recommendations on social transitioning, emphasising the need for clinical advice, especially for younger gender-questioning children.
LGBT activist groups demanded Stonewall’s input be reinstated, but in response, The Christian Institute co-ordinated a letter signed by over 100 education professionals urging the DfE to maintain those changes and make the guidance statutory.
KCSIE now emphasises that “caution is necessary for children questioning their gender as there remain many unknowns about the impact of social transition and children may well have wider vulnerabilities, including having complex mental health and psychosocial needs, and in some cases additional diagnoses of autism and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder”.
‘Massive step forward’
The Christian Institute’s Head of Education John Denning commented: “This guidance, though it is not perfect, is a massive step in the right direction. I think it will really do what it should be doing, which is to safeguard children while they are in school.”
He explained that “dressing and behaving as if you are the opposite sex is profoundly significant psychologically.
“It really cements the child in that belief, and it’s a false belief, and that ultimately could lead to them pursuing all sorts of things that would cause permanent harm to their bodies, like taking hormones, even future surgery.”
He welcomed that the guidance now advises schools to be aware of such safeguarding risks, after it previously told them “not to be concerned”.
‘Automatic affirmation’
Last year, over 100 teachers, head teachers, school governors and other educationalists joined The Christian Institute in urging the Education Secretary to protect pupils from transgender ideology.
The letter told Bridget Phillipson that schools needed both KCSIE and the ‘Gender Questioning Children’ guidance as some schools were still operating “a policy of automatic ‘affirmation’” and many were “uncertain and disempowered in the absence of this guidance”.
In December 2023, after months of delays, draft guidance on ‘Gender Questioning Children’ was published for consultation, recommending that schools respond cautiously to children who identify as the opposite sex.
Though roundly condemned by trans activist groups at the time, its approach has since been exonerated by the Cass Review.
MP: ‘Inappropriate sex ed putting pupils in harm’s way’
School cancels drag act after concerned parents ask MP to intervene