A report released in March revealed what campaigners described as “horrifying” details of schools in Labour-run Wales allowing children to change gender identity without telling their parents. A separate investigation has now shown that the situation is even worse in SNP-run Scotland.
The paper by campaign group For Women Scotland concludes that gender ideology has become “embedded within the school system.” It blames the Scottish Government’s transgender guidance, which the majority of schools “unquestioningly follow, even when it is out of date, in places unlawful, and non-compliant with the Cass Review.” The Cass Review found that the treatment of children unsure about their gender “is an area of remarkably weak evidence.”
In a particularly concerning passage, the report notes:
There is a misconception that the occasional headlines in the press about children socially transitioned without parents knowledge or boys causing upset by using the girls’ toilets represent isolated incidents, and that such practices are only happening in a small number of schools.
This report conclusively disproves that theory.
The paper’s findings are based on Freedom of Information requests from hundreds of secondary schools, attended by children aged 11 upwards. These are that:
- At least 95% of Scottish secondaries are telling children they can self-identify their gender, compared to 40% of English schools;
- 89% teach children that people have a gender identity “that may be different from their sex”;
- 37% teach that “a person who self identifies as a man or a woman should be treated as such in all circumstances, even if this does not match their biological sex”; and
- Just 4% of Scottish parents can “expect to be informed” if their child expresses distress about gender at school;
For Women Scotland made six recommendations in its paper, including updating the Scottish government’s transgender guidelines for schools and “end[ing] the involvement of LGBT Youth Scotland and other activist organisations” in such processes. The Scottish Tories have urged the hard-left Scottish National Party to “consider the recommendations closely,” adding that:
Gender self-ID confuses children and shouldn’t be taught in our classrooms.
The Tories have, however, been heavily criticised for not going far enough in their own trans guidelines for schools in England, which headteachers have dismissed as meaningless. And Labour, when it likely takes the reins in England at the next general election, is bound only to make the situation worse, so far as parents are concerned.
After already revealing that 60% of Scottish secondary schools will allow a child to access toilets designated for the opposite sex, For Women Scotland says that it will release a separate report on “what’s happening to your child’s school toilets” shortly.