New government guidance on transgender issues for schools is “urgently needed”, Ofsted’s chief inspector Amanda Spielman has told MPs.
She told the Commons Education Select Committee this morning that there is currently “very limited guidance” available on the matter and said schools needed help navigating a “minefield”.
MPs were also told by the chief inspector that it is a “safeguarding risk” for schools to keep parents in the dark if their child is having “serious questions or doubts” about their gender.
Responding to a question from Conservative MP Miriam Cates on transitioning pupils, Ms Spielman said: “The first thing to say is that there is very limited guidance for schools at the moment.
“The Department for Education is working towards some guidance which I think has been expected for some time...we are now hoping will be published before the end of the year.
“I haven’t, myself, seen a draft but it’s clearly urgently needed - the issues have got way more complicated.”
Ms Spielman also raised the issue of school safeguarding in responding to pupils questioning their gender.
She added: “It is really important that parents understand what their child’s concerns are - if their child is having serious questions or doubts or explorations of gender identity, to keep parents in the dark about that is obviously a safeguarding risk.
“I think it’s very important for all schools to understand that whether or not a child is exploring gender identities, the fundamental principles of safeguarding continue to apply and biological sex continues to be relevant.”
She told the committee that guidance was needed to help schools “navigate their way through this minefield”.
While the sector waits for the DfE to produce official guidance, a group of school organisations have produced their own advice for maintained schools and academies in England on the provision for transgender pupils.
It has been jointly produced by the Association of School and College Leaders, the NAHT school leaders’ union, the National Governance Association, the Institute of School Business Leadership, the Chartered College of Teaching and the Confederation of School Trusts.
The organisations have said the briefing is not official guidance but is being provided to help members ahead of the anticipated publication of guidance by the DfE.
The unofficial guidance says that to meet the regulatory requirements for all pupils, depending on the needs of the pupil cohort, schools may need to provide both unisex/gender-neutral and single-sex facilities.
Ms Spielman also told MPs today that teachers have needed to be “expert guides through disputed territory” when teaching politically sensitive topics.
“Schools are places where children from all kinds of backgrounds, all families have to be...No parent wants to send their child to school thinking that they are going to be pushed into one set of political views or another. So teachers really have to be expert guides through disputed territory.”
She praised the DfE’s guidance on political impartiality and said that Ofsted inspectors have been given training on recognising the issues when they arise.
