Schools advised on transgender inclusion

Teaching union’s guide highlights inappropriate communication

Staff were urged not to divide classes into groups of boys and girls unnecessarily to avoid potential exclusion of trans children
Staff were urged not to divide classes into groups of boys and girls unnecessarily to avoid potential exclusion of trans childrenALAMY

New guidance to make Scotland’s schools and colleges more inclusive for transgender people will help stop teachers being “hounded out of the profession” and widespread bullying of pupils, campaigners have said.

The guide, produced by the teaching union NASUWT, warned that traditional ways of communicating could be inappropriate for staff or students whose gender identity does not fit the binary biological division of male and female.

Staff were urged to consider not addressing colleagues as “ladies and gentlemen”, for example, and not to divide classes into groups of boys and girls unnecessarily to avoid potential exclusion of trans children.

The Scottish Trans Alliance (STA) said it believed the guide would help tackle the “unacceptable” discrimination, which transgender people experienced in the education sector.

James Morton,…