"It is, officially, just a small part of wider guidance for schools and colleges, titled Keeping Children Safe in Education, which covers everything from the basics of safeguarding, checks on staff and dealing with harassment. The section on students who might question their gender covers about five of the document's 201 pages, guiding institutions about what they should do in such circumstances. Unlike the previous guidance it is statutory it must be followed. It is currently being consulted on, and so will not come into force until September. The DfE says it will then be reviewed annually."
"There are two specific changes. The first is that the new guidance ends the 2023 document's outright ban on primary school-age children undertaking what is called social transitioning, the process whereby someone who is questioning their gender might change their appearance or dress, or use a different name or pronouns. The updated version says it can happen, but that this is expected to be very rare, and should take place only after the school or college uses proper procedures, including parental involvement and clinical advice."
Updated guidance on handling pupils questioning their birth gender is embedded within Keeping Children Safe in Education and is statutory. The guidance covers roughly five pages of the 201-page document and will be consulted on before coming into force in September, with annual reviews thereafter. The 2023 ban on primary school social transitioning is removed, permitting very rare cases after formal procedures, parental involvement and clinical advice. Parental notification remains the norm but can be withheld in exceptional safeguarding circumstances where informing parents would pose greater risk. Officials intend a move away from one-size-fits-all policy approaches.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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