UK girls’ schools instructed not to call students ‘girls’: could offend transgender students
Teachers at a conference for UK girls' schools
last week were instructed to call students “pupils” instead of “girls” so as to
avoid offending the gender-confused.
A group called Gendered Intelligence made the
recommendation at the Summer 2016 Briefing of the Girls’ Schools Association
(GSA), which represents the heads of many of the top independent day and
boarding schools in the UK.
Gendered Intelligence is a non-profit that
provides “trans awareness training for all sectors and educational workshops
for schools, colleges, Universities and other educational settings” and
specializes in “supporting young trans people aged 8-25,” according to its
website.
Gendered Intelligence delivers presentations
on transgenderism to UK schoolchildren as young
as four and
runs a London youth group for children starting at age eight.
“Some people feel like using she/her pronouns
sometimes and he/him pronouns at other times,” Gendered Intelligence’s website
explains, while others prefer “non-binary” pronouns.
The GSA defended the use of gender-neutral
language in girls’ schools as “pastoral” and part of its duty to care for
students “who decide to transition.”
“In assemblies, instead of saying ‘Girls, go
to lessons,’ staff should consider saying ‘Pupils, go to lessons,’ or
‘Students, go to lessons,’” Caroline Jordan, President of the GSA and
headmistress of Headington School in Oxfordshire, told the Sunday
Times.
The crux of the matter is that schools have a
duty of care to all pupils, including those who decide to transition. Language
is one part of this complex pastoral issue and GSA schools, which have a long
history of excellence in pastoral care, are at the forefront of showing best
practice in including transgender pupils.
For the avoidance of doubt, we believe that
using certain terminology – such as ‘pupils’ or ‘students’ rather than ‘girls’
– is appropriate in certain
circumstances, and particularly when transgender pupils are present. It is up
to individual schools to interpret and apply this advice when appropriate.
In Brighton, the city council sent parents a
school registration form in April asking them to support their children, some
as young as four, in picking a
gender.
Two years ago in the United States, Nebraska
middle school teachers were
instructedto avoid phrases like “boys and
girls” and instead use “gender inclusive” options like “purple penguins.”
