CNA Staff, Dec 22, 2023 / 12:27 pm
Draft guidelines issued this week by the U.K. Department for Education (DfE) state that schools should only support student pronoun changes in rare cases and that teachers should not be forced to use the pronouns chosen by students identifying as transgender.
At the same time, the proposed rules also direct that parents should be informed if their child requests a “social transition” at school, with authorities instructed to give the views of parents “great weight” when determining how to respond in such cases.
The guidance was issued by the British government as part of a “consultation” to determine whether the proposed rules will “help to support schools and colleges, teachers and leaders to make considered and lawful decisions” regarding children who claim to be transgender.
The document states in part that “agreeing to a child’s request” for different pronouns is a “significant decision.” Younger children, the guidelines say, “should not have different pronouns” from their sex-based ones.