New gender identity guidance for schools in England will ensure parents know what is “going on with their children”, according to the equalities minister.
Further details are expected to be published this week, with reports suggesting schools will be forced to tell parents if students are questioning their gender.
Kemi Badenoch told BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “We are producing guidance for schools to know how to deal with children who are experiencing gender distress.
“I can’t go into the specifics of what is going to be in the guidance but what your viewers can be reassured of is we’re doing everything we can to bring clarity.
This is not a trivial thing; this is very different from sexual orientation and what is right is that parents know what is going on with their children at school— Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch
“There’s quite a lot of confusion about what the law says and it is important that parents are aware of what’s going on with their children and what’s happening to them at school, so what we’re doing is making sure we have robust guidance that’s going to be able to stand up to scrutiny. That will be coming shortly.”
Told it might be possible that trans students feel teachers are “outing” them to their parents against their wishes, Ms Badenoch replied: “I think we need to make sure that we don’t speculate too much on what’s going to be in the guidance – it’s best read in totality and within context.
“The fact is that this is not a trivial thing; this is very different from sexual orientation and what is right is that parents know what is going on with their children at school.”
Ms Badenoch said the Government’s guidance will ensure “everyone is getting the balance right”.
