Parents risk being left in the dark when their children want to change gender under Labour’s new school rules, a former head of Ofsted has warned.
Baroness Spielman said that pupils will take advantage of a loophole in the long-awaited proposals to stop their families finding out they are being known by different names and pronouns in the classroom.
Her comments came as Kemi Badenoch branded the guidelines ‘madness’, as they water down a tougher version she drew up when in Government and now allow children as young as four to identify as the opposite sex.
The new draft guidance on gender-questioning children, published by the Department for Education on Thursday, removes her proposed complete ban on primary schools allowing young pupils to be called she instead of he.
And although it states that parents should usually be kept informed if one of their children wants to ‘socially transition’ – change their name, pronouns or uniform – it adds that they can be left out if teachers think it ‘would constitute a significant risk of harm to the child’.
Lady Spielman, who was chief inspector of schools in England from 2017 to 2023, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday: ‘There’s far too much leeway for schools unilaterally to decide to permit a child to transition while keeping it secret from their parents.’
She went on: ‘Parents may be absolutely right to tell their child that they must wait, but a child who doesn’t want to wait may then be encouraged by peers, by activists, campaign groups, influencers, whoever to go and tell their school that they feel unsafe at home in order to put pressure on the school.
‘The guidance should say that this is a decision which should never be taken without parents’ knowledge and agreement.
Baroness Spielman (pictured) was chief inspector of schools in England from 2017 to 2023
The new draft guidance on gender-questioning children, published by the Department for Education on Thursday, removes her proposed complete ban on primary schools allowing young pupils to be called she instead of he (file photo of a young woman sporting a trans flag)
‘There’ll be a bit of an industry here in coaching children in what to say to your school to make sure they don’t tell your parents.’
She said parents could be dealing with children who are autistic or who have mental health problems or but schools will think they can help their gender dysphoria by allowing them to socially transition.
‘This could drive huge wedges between schools and parents in some of the most difficult cases,’ she warned.
Meanwhile Conservative party leader Mrs Badenoch spoke out about the guidance for the first time, recalling how she had spent years working on it while Equalities Minister – ‘mostly battling the DfE to stop doing stupid things’.
She praised Labour for making it clear that schools must follow the law on single-sex spaces in light of last year’s Supreme Court ruling, and not for not using ‘activist language’ about trans children.
But she went on: ‘It still has the concept of social transitioning included. It opens the door to primary school children being socially transitioned. Some as young as four. This is madness.
‘It removes the presumption that parents must consent. It still tries to keep everyone happy instead of being crystal clear that schools should not be socially transitioning children.’