The government of the United Kingdom has released new draft guidance on how schools in England should deal with gender transitions, and Christians say it’s a positive move.

“We are glad to see significant steps forward in the government’s draft guidance addressing transgender ideology in schools,” said Andrea Williams, CEO of Christian Concern and the Christian Legal Centre. “We believe that the government has listened to many of the problems we have been raising through legal cases and with the department over the last 10 years. Had this guidance been followed, many more children would have been protected and several Christians we are supporting would not have lost their jobs. Today, they are vindicated.”

The government calls the new guidance a “Parent first approach,” stating: “Where a child requests action from a school or college in relation to any degree of social transition, schools and colleges should engage parents as a matter of priority, and encourage the child to speak to their parents, other than in the exceptionally rare circumstances where involving parents would constitute a significant risk of harm to the child.”

The guidance holds that “there is no general duty to allow a child to ‘social transition,’” and it states that schools must protect single-sex spaces: “As a default, all children should use the toilets, showers and changing facilities designated for their biological sex unless it will cause distress for them to do so. In these instances, schools and colleges should seek to find alternative arrangements, while continuing to ensure spaces are single-sex.”

Regarding sports, the guidance stipulates that schools and colleges ensure both safety and fairness. “For most children above a certain age, this will usually require offering female-only sporting activities and competition,” the guidance says.

Significantly, the new guidance also states that if a child wishes to change his or her pronouns, the school is not obligated to do so. “It is expected that there will be very few occasions in which a school or college will be able to agree to a change of pronouns,” the document says. “On these rare occasions, no teacher or pupil should be compelled to use these preferred pronouns, and it should not prevent teachers from referring to children collectively as ‘girls’ or ‘boys,’ even in the presence of a child that has been allowed to change their pronouns.”

Williams welcomed the changes but pointed to the case of Joshua Sutcliffe: “Joshua Sutcliffe lost his job for saying ‘well done girls’ to a group in his classroom, one of whom identified as male whilst being biologically female. … Sutcliffe was banned from teaching by the Teaching Regulation Agency earlier this year in a decision made on behalf of the Secretary of State. He needs to be fully reinstated, and an apology needs to be made to him.”

The government is seeking feedback on the draft guidelines through March 12, 2024.

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