Scottish schools should do all they can to promote ‘trans-friendliness’, according to new guidance.
Teaching union NASUWT claimed the guidance – called Trans Equality in Schools and Colleges – would stop bullying of LGBT pupils.
NASUWT said it was “committed to supporting” transsexual teachers and students.
The guidance, published last week, instructs teachers to “use the student’s preferred name and pronouns”.
“If you get it wrong, apologise, correct yourself and move on without drawing undue attention to the oversight.”
It also called for teachers to avoid addressing colleagues as “ladies and gentleman” and refrain from separating classes into groups of boys and girls to avoid trans exclusion. The guidance was developed with the assistance of a secondary school teacher who has ‘transitioned’ from male to female.
Responding to the news, a Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Scotland is recognised as one of the most progressive countries in Europe on LGBTI rights; however there is more to do to tackle all forms of prejudice.”
A headmaster in London recently said that schools needed to be wary of embracing the transsexualism agenda.
Andrew Halls, headmaster of King’s College School, Wimbledon, warned against creating “hysteria” in which children might think they are the opposite sex, and then “find support online for such ideas”.
“We have to be careful. There is evidence that some people who have done the full transgendering have regretted it.
“We must avoid a headlong rush into a void of ignorance. This is like new science no one fully understands.”
For more information and theology on the subject of transsexualism – wanting to change physical sex because you feel you are ‘in the wrong body’ – download The Christian Institute’s briefing.
Transsexualism – wanting to change physical sex because you feel you are ‘in the wrong body’ – has become an increasingly high-profile issue. People in the public eye have ‘changed their sex’, and the media normalises transsexualism. There has been a corresponding push for greater transsexual rights. This briefing introduces some of the issues at stake.