Supporting staff and pupils to understand gender identity
Gender identity refers to a person’s understanding and experience of their own gender, it is their internal sense of self. Everyone has a gender identity; for some people, it corresponds with the gender assigned at birth, and for some others, it does not. Gender identities are expansive and do not need to be confined within one collectively agreed-upon term.
A child’s appearance may not inform you or their gender identity. It is important to understand that one’s gender identity does not direct the way we are or the clothing we choose to wear.
The purpose of this guidance is to clarify what steps schools can take to support pupils who are questioning their gender or identity as transgender. The Department for Education (DfE) updated its guidance on Keeping Children Safe in Education in September 2024, however Guidance on Gender Questioning Children and RHSE Guidance (updating the current RSE Guidance) has not yet been finalised and published, and clarity is needed in the interim.
The current conversation around gender identity is highly polarised and there remains a lack of awareness around gender incongruence and dysphoria. The conversation is having an additional harmful effect on people of all ages who experience gender incongruence or dysphoria and is especially damaging to children and young people who are struggling to understand themselves. In exploring or discussing this subject we must remember that, at its heart, are a small minority of people – including children and young people – who are struggling to get the support and acceptance they need.
The Cass review
The Cass Review was an independent review of Gender Identity Services for children and young people and was commissioned by NHS England. The review was strictly focused on the clinical services provided to children and young people who seek help from the NHS to resolve their gender-related distress. The Cass Review did not make recommendations to local authorities or schools, and diagnosis of gender dysphoria rests with the NHS. However, school staff play an important role in supporting children and young people and it is helpful to understand the implications of the review and changes to NHS services.
The Cass Review led to the closure of the NHS Tavistock Clinic’s Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) which provided services to children and young people in March 2024, and a ban on puberty blockers for under 18s in May 2024 unless part of a clinical trial which has yet to commence.
The Cass Review recommended a regional model for GIDS which will see clinics supported by Operational Delivery Networks (ODN) to allow a cohesive, cross-organisational approach to referral and support to ensure safe and consistent care. While two centres have now opened in Liverpool and London, the Bristol clinic (covering the southwest) is due to become operational in November 2024.
What do the terms gender identity, transgender, gender incongruence and gender dysphoria mean?
Gender identity refers to a person’s sense of their own gender, whether male, female or another category such as non-binary or gender-fluid (neither male or female, or interchangeable) – this can be a sense of feeling masculine or feminine, neither or both. This may or may not be the same as a person’s sex registered at birth which is based upon external sex organs (referred to in this guidance as ‘biological sex’, although human biology is more complex that just external sex organs).
The term transgender (or ‘trans’ for short, and the T in LGBTQ+) is a description used by people whose gender identity is different to the one registered at birth, they may have undergone or are undergoing gender reassignment. The reassignment process is usually long and difficult, and involves social transitioning (such as change of name, pronouns, honorifics, and appearance through clothing etc.), and may or may not involve medical transitioning (use of hormonal treatment or surgery, noting that medical intervention is restricted on grounds of age by the NHS and surgery is only potentially available to adults).
Although both identities fall under the banner of ‘trans’, transgender identity should not be confused with someone who enjoys dressing in the style of the opposite sex for fun or entertainment (‘cross-dressing’) but their gender identity remains the same as their biological sex (for example, a Drag Queen who still considers themselves a man).
The exact cause of gender dysphoria is unclear. Gender development is complex and there are still things that are not known or fully understood. Gender dysphoria is not a mental illness, but some people may develop mental health problems because of gender dysphoria [Gender dysphoria – NHS (www.nhs.uk)]. Our biology is complex and made up of hormones and chromosomes, as well as external and internal sex organs. For some, they may experience differences in sex development – NHS (www.nhs.uk). The Cass Review concluded “that a complex interplay between prenatal androgen levels, external genitalia, sex of rearing and socio-cultural environment all play a part in eventual gender identity, and we have yet to understand the relative influence of these various elements”.
For some people, their gender questioning could be arising from body dysmorphia (where a person spends a lot of time worrying about perceived flaws in their appearance) or other factors such as a rejection of gender stereotypes or fears of growing into an adult body, but just because this applies to some people, it does not mean it applies to all people. Puberty is a complex process and young people need to be given the space, information and respect to explore and understand their identities and growth. During this time people may identify as non-binary or genderfluid, for example. As such they will also find pronouns “they/them” respectful.
It’s also important to note that whilst there is a higher proportion of people with Neurodiversity (autism/ADHD) who identify as LGBTQ+, the reasons are not fully understood; this highlights the need to consider multiple factors and intersectionality when working with gender questioning young people. The Cass Review highlighted the need to sensitively consider intersectionality of aspects such as mental health and neurodiversity when supporting people with gender incongruence.
Supporting gender questioning children
The Cass Review stated that young people need a safe, non-judgemental space in which explore their gender identity. Failure to provide this may result in more harm coming to such vulnerable and often misunderstood young people.
Understanding gender identities is important. If a child or young person divulges their thoughts and feelings about their gender, being equipped with the knowledge and language will support them to continue to feel safe. Exploring identity is a normal part of child development and as such it’s important to have an open and non-judgemental approach to discussing identity. Shutting children and young people down can lead to harmful, internalised shame. Open questions about their identity are a good place to start; let the child/young person tell you what is important to them without making assumptions. Please remember you might be the only person the child or young person has trusted to talk to about their feelings and as such your response is key; having a safe adult they can talk to can lead young people to accessing safe help and support. Ideally, parents or carers should be involved in this process and whilst it’s important to encourage young people to discuss these issues with their parent or carer, keep in mind that a young person may not feel safe to do so and the reasons behind this should be explored.
Decisions and medical care, which involve affirmative action, about a person’s gender incongruence or dysphoria rest with the NHS. Schools or social workers should do what is best for the child emotionally and socially, in consultation with the parents (where it is safe to do so). School staff can be respectful and allow the child or young person to explore and grow without judgement or distress, seeking or signposting to clinical or other professional support, such as Education Welfare or School Counsellor, where necessary.
Requiring a gender questioning or transgender person to conform to binary sex provision or continue to identify as their birth-sex can cause confusion, uncertainty or distress. Typically, this distress can arise when asking boys and girls to queue separately or splitting an activity based on sex identity, access to toilets, sleeping or changing facilities, participation in sport, uniform policies, and the use of pronouns and names. Responding to these issues requires care and consideration.
Meeting the needs of trans pupils may raise concerns for others – for example, girls feeling uncomfortable about a trans girl accessing their toilets. We are awaiting further guidance on practical measures for schools. In the meantime, we recommend considering ways in which everyone’s concerns and needs are met, where possible. For example, provision of a unisex self-contained toilet and separate changing facilities for trans pupils to use.
LGBTQ+ youth groups and charities can provide young people a safe space, where they are in contact with trained youth workers who are able to provide appropriate support and identify safeguarding and wellbeing concerns at an early stage. Without access to safe information and support, children and young people may turn to unregulated advice or support on the internet – this can include sourcing information about hormones and puberty blockers in light of restrictions and delays in accessing gender identity services in the NHS. This could have significant impact on their emotional and/or physical wellbeing. Likewise, such groups provide children access to age-appropriate social networks without which they may try to connect with strangers online. If you are concerned about the welfare of a child, please refer to safeguarding policies and procedures.
The Department for Education updated its guidance on Keeping Children Safe in Education in September 2024. Part Two: The Management of Safeguarding sets out the responsibility of governing bodies, proprietors and management committees. It clarifies the legal protections offered by the Human Rights Act 1998 and Equality Act 2010. It also sets out guidance on safeguarding for children who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or gender questioning:
The Cass Review identified that caution is necessary for children questioning their gender as there remain many unknowns about the impact of social transition and children may well have wider vulnerabilities, including having complex mental health and psychosocial needs, and in some cases additional diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
As such, when supporting a gender questioning child, schools should take a cautious approach and consider the broad range of their individual needs, in partnership with the child’s parents (other than in the exceptionally rare circumstances where involving parents would constitute a significant risk of harm to the child), including any clinical advice that is available and how to address wider vulnerabilities such as the risk of bullying. Schools should refer to our Guidance for Schools and Colleges in relation to Gender Questioning Children*, when deciding how to proceed.
Risks can be compounded where children lack trusted adults with whom they can be open. It is therefore vital that staff endeavour to reduce the additional barriers faced and create a culture where they can speak out or share their concerns with members of staff.
*N.B. This section remains under review, pending the outcome of the gender questioning children guidance consultation, and final gender questioning guidance documents being published. If you have any questions about supporting gender questioning pupils you can access EDI consultancy.
Transgender children experience high levels of bullying, and transphobic bullying should be addressed in the school. Across the Devon County Council area, there were 25 reported incidents related to gender identity in the 2023/2024 academic year (out of a total 1,079 incidents).
Growing Up LGBT+, independent research carried out by Just Like Us (published January 2021), found of 2,934 pupils aged 11-18 (1,140 of whom were LGBT+) and 513 educators across the UK, that pupils in schools with strong positive messaging around being LGBT+ were also less likely to experience suicidal thoughts and feelings. It also found that:
43% of LGBT+ school pupils have been bullied in the past year, double the number of non-LGBT+ pupils (21%). 1 in 5 (18%) LGBT+ pupils didn’t tell anyone they’d been bullied and just 21% told a teacher at school.
LGBT+ young people are twice as likely to contemplate suicide, and Black LGBT+ young people are three times more likely.
LGBT+ pupils feel far less safe at school. Only 58% of LGBT+ young people have felt safe at school on a daily basis in the past 12 months, compared to 73% of non-LGBT+ pupils.
LGBT+ young people are three times more likely to self-harm (31% have self-harmed, compared to 9% of non-LGBT+ young people) and experience drug or alcohol dependence (6% compared to 2% of non-LGBT+ young people)
LGBT+ young people are twice as likely to have depression, anxiety and panic attacks as well as be lonely and worry about their mental health on a daily basis.
68% of LGBT+ young people say their mental health has ‘got worse’ since the pandemic, compared to 49% of their non-LGBT+ peers.
Disabled LGBT+ young people are more likely to struggle with and worry about their mental health.
It is highly likely you will have LGBTQ+ people in your school community. This may include teachers, support staff, pupils, governors, and parents and carers. To reduce the risk of homophobic and transphobic bullying and enable children to feel safe to talk to an adult about any concerns they have in relation to LGBTQ+ identity, the school may wish to promote LGBTQ+ inclusion through occasional activities or resources and ensuring the designated safeguarding lead is trained in LGBTQ+ awareness.
What does the law say?
Gender Reassignment is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. The protection from harassment (section 26) does not apply in relation to schools. Protection applies to people proposing to undergo, undergoing or having undergone gender reassignment. The reassignment process does not have to involve medical or surgical treatment, noting that surgery is only available to adults on the NHS. Non-binary and gender fluid identities are included in the definition of gender reassignment through case law (Taylor v Jaguar Land Rover Ltd ET/1304471/2018). The protected characteristic of sex only covers boys/men and girls/women.
Under the Equality Act 2010 an organisation can prevent, limit or modify transgender people’s access to single sex services or facilities if it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. This could include, for example, refusing to accommodate a trans woman in a refuge for women who have experienced domestic violence. This applies whether the person has a Gender Recognition Certificate or not. People with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment can also be excluded from competitive sport where it would be unfair or unsafe for them to compete.
The Gender Recognition Act 2004 allows a person aged 18 or over to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate. If successful, a person can change the sex defined on their birth certificate. However, non-binary and gender fluid identities are currently not legally recognised on birth certificates. By contrast, New Zealand, Germany, Bangladesh, and New York City permit gender-neutral and/or non-binary designations on birth certificates. Under the Gender Recognition Act, transgender people have a legal right to live in their true gender without being expected to disclose anything about having transitioned. If a transgender person needs to discuss their sex identity assigned at birth, it should be treated in the strictest confidence. Under the Gender Recognition Act 2004 it is a criminal offence for anyone who has acquired official knowledge that someone has undergone gender re-assignment (which does not have to include surgery) to inform anyone else about this, except within the limits of a professional obligation within their own organisation.
Forstater v CGD Europe and others ET/2200909/2019 established Gender Critical Beliefs as a ‘protected belief’ in that a person cannot be discriminated against for holding a view that “sex is immutable and should not be conflated with gender identity, and that trans women are men”.
Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998 protects people’s right to hold their own opinions and to express them freely without government interference. Although people have freedom of expression, they also have a duty to behave responsibly and to respect other people’s rights. Public authorities may reasonably and proportionately restrict freedom of expression in order to protect the rights and reputations of other people, public safety, and health or morals. This can include, for example restricting expression of views that encourage hatred towards people with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.
Key points from the guidance (as captured September 2024; guidance may be subject to change):
A child can have the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.
Single-sex schools are permissible. Single-sex boarding in mixed schools is also permissible.
Single-sex schools can still claim single-sex status even if they admit a pupil of the opposite sex. This may arise when the school has spaces it wants to fill, for example.
A single-sex school does not lose its single-sex status if a pupil undergoes gender reassignment. For example, a transgender boy is admitted to or remains at a girls school.
Single-sex segregation is permitted for privacy and decency. The law requires schools to provide single-sex toilets for children over the age of 8 and single-sex changing for children over the age of 11.
Residential schools can restrict access to communal and dormitory accommodation based on sex or gender reassignment.
School uniform policies may amount to unlawful discrimination if they result in less favourable treatment (‘direct discrimination’) or a criteria that disadvantages a pupil based on sex or gender reassignment that cannot be objectively justified as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim (‘indirect discrimination’).
Cross-dressing is not a protected characteristic, but dressing to align to gender identity is protected.
Schools are allowed to organise separate competitive sport for boys and girls – where strength, stamina and physique are significant factors in determining success or failure.
If refusing access to a provision or activity on grounds of gender reassignment, a school must show how far and unreasonable it is to alter, extend or find an alternative. If it is relatively easy to make an adjustment, failure to do so could amount to discrimination.
Failure to provide an alternative (separate space) to single-sex facilities for a transgender pupil, resulting in them unable to participate in an activity, could amount to discrimination if such facilities could be reasonably provided.
Whilst section 26 of the Equality Act 2010 (harassment) does not apply to schools in relation to gender reassignment, harassment may be unlawful direct discrimination if a pupil suffers a disadvantage as a result. For example, telling a transgender girl that “they should not dress like a girl and must wear the boys uniform” which results in distress and inability to attend the school, could amount to direct discrimination on grounds of gender reassignment.
Gender identity related bullying and hate incidents in schools should be treated with the same degree of seriousness as racist incidents.
Curriculum content is excluded from the Equality Act 2010. Therefore, schools are free to cover a range of issues and ideas, however challenging or controversial. However, the way in which curriculum is delivered could be a valid complaint – such as not allowing a pupil to participate in an activity.
A person, such as a parent, objecting to trans-inclusive activities at a school (such as celebrating LGBT+ History Month or Pride) on grounds of their own religious belief would not be a valid complaint under the Equality Act 2010.
is a term being used by people who do not believe that someone can change their sex and do not recognise non-binary or gender fluid identities. Whilst this belief is protected in law from discrimination, the term “gender ideology” is offensive to transgender people because it implies their experience of gender incongruence or dysphoria is not real and is a ‘belief’ or ‘theory’. It is worth noting that transgender people have deep historical roots, dating back millennia and spanning cultures worldwide, it is not a new concept. Various societies have recognised and embraced gender diversity throughout history, with examples found in ancient civilizations like the ancient Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and indigenous cultures across the globe.
LGBTQ+
stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans. The Q stands for Questioning and applies to people who are exploring their gender identity or sexual orientation. The ‘plus’ sign indicates other gender and sexual orientation identities such as gender-fluid, pansexual and non-binary. Whilst a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity are two separate characteristics, the grouping of these is due to similar experiences of phobia and discrimination.
Assigned Sex
The sex someone is assigned at birth on their birth certificate based on external physical characteristics.
Cisgender
Describes a match between a person’s assigned sex and their gender identity (i.e. not transgender). For example, a person who was assigned female at birth, and identifies as a girl / woman / female.
Coming Out
A process by which a trans person will tell friends / family / co-workers about their trans identity (is also used for LGB+ identities).
Gender Identity
The internal sense of gender. How a person feels in regards to male or masculine / female or feminine / neither / both.
Gender Expression
How someone expresses their gender through their appearance, for example.
Gender Affirming Surgeries
A term used in place of ‘Gender/Sex Reassignment Surgery’ (which is widely seen as outdated). Encompasses a variety of surgeries or procedures available to trans people which may affirm their gender identity. Surgery is only available to adults.
Gender Dysphoria
A recognised medical term which refers to the physical, mental and/or social discomfort of being perceived and living as one’s assigned sex.
Intersex
The term intersex may be used to describe people with differences in sex development.
Misgender
To make reference to someone using language that does not correlate with their gender identity (for example, using the wrong pronouns).
Non-Binary
Umbrella term which means to not identify with a binary gender identity (male / female). Example: “I am a non-binary person / I am non-binary”. A person may use other terms such such as gender-fluid (where they will switch between identities) or gender-queer.
Pronouns
The words we use instead of repeating a person or object’s name repeatedly in conversation. Pronouns can be gendered (He/Him and She/Her) or gender-neutral (They/Them).
Sexual Orientation
Attraction to people i.e. gay, straight, bisexual, pansexual etc.
Trans
Short for transgender, describing a person who’s gender identity does not match their biological sex/sex assigned at birth.
Trans Man
Someone who was assigned female at birth but identifies/feels they are a man.
Trans Woman
Someone who was assigned as male at birth but identifies/feels they are a woman.
Transition (Social/Medical)
Transition is a process which is personal to each individual and can take many forms, from simply changing the pronoun which one uses, to changing the style of one’s dress, to taking hormones, or undergoing surgery (adults only).
Transphobia
Fear, hatred, abuse etc. of trans people.
Transvestite
An outdated term used to describe someone who dresses as a different gender, this is not the same as being transgender.
