Teachers told to go ‘gender-free’

Terms such as ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ should be scrapped in schools, members of the UK’s largest education union have been told.

In a webinar funded by the National Education Union (NEU) for its members, the pro-LGBT group Educate & Celebrate promoted ‘gender-neutral’ language, uniforms and codes of conduct.

The Department for Education (DfE) has dismissed the idea as “completely unnecessary”. A spokesman said that “banning gendered terms” was “inappropriate” and “should not be happening in our classrooms”.

No Sir

Chief Executive of Educate & Celebrate Dr Elly Barnes said staff should be referred to by the title “teacher”, followed by their surname.

She also told teachers to use “pupils”, “students” or “child” instead of the gender specific terms “boys” and “girls” and said that “mother” should be replaced by “parent”.

propaganda for trans activists

One attendee told The Daily Telegraph that such advice would stop children saying “Sir” or “Miss”, terms currently used ‘to get the attention’ of staff and which do not cause teachers “offence”.

A female teacher at the event told the Daily Mail the training amounted to “propaganda for trans activists” and Educate & Celebrate was “trying to erase” women “by taking away our language”.

A scandal

The Christian Institute’s Education Officer John Denning said: “Schools can’t be ‘gender free’ because the reality is that pupils, teachers and parents aren’t ‘gender free’.

“Schools should not be places where pupils are encouraged to deny reality, but where they learn about it, and are encouraged to value their bodies, their mothers and fathers and to respect their peers of both sexes.

“It is scandalous that organisations pushing schools to adopt political, not factual, approaches continue to receive public funds and money from teachers’ union subscriptions.”