A government minister said he “probably wouldn’t be overly happy” if his daughters were placed in a boarding house with a transgender girl.
In an inquiry from the Commons’ Education Select Committee, Will Quince, Minister for Children and Families, was asked by Conservative MP Caroline Johnson about the rising number of transgender students in UK schools.
Ms Johnson said: “The number of children who identify as transgender is increasing and schools need to strike a balance of ensuring that these children can be cared for properly and that their needs are properly met,” while also meeting the needs of the wider school population.
She added that she had been contacted by parents who were concerned about an 18-year-old trans girl sharing a boarding house with their teenage daughters.
Ms Johnson asked Mr Quince what guidance the Department for Education could give to schools in dealing with situations like these “in a sensitive way that provides for the privacy and dignity and wellbeing of all the students”.
“At the heart of this is a young person who wants to learn, as themselves,” say children’s transgender charity, Mermaids.
The minister said the issue was a “bit of a minefield” and that the DfE and Government Equalities Office are working together to provide guidance for schools.
“I think there are two competing priorities here,” he said. “The first is the 2010 Equalities Act and the importance that all children and young people must be treated equally and where there are protected characteristics, that they’re recognised.
“But at the same time any school also has legal obligations, a duty to safeguard and protect and promote the welfare of all children.”
Mr Quince added: “On the face of what you just said, as a parent – and in particular a parent of two young girls – I probably wouldn’t be overly happy with the situation you describe,” and suggested the parents in question should speak with school’s headteacher, governors or Independent Schools Inspectorate.
He said he would speak with the Schools Minister, Robin Walker, on creating further guidance but urged schools to a common sense approach.
“You can give all the guidance in the world that sets out the legal position, but we need schools to first use their common sense and to follow the law as it stands at the moment,” he said.
“I would suggest that the duty to protect and to safeguard should probably override anything else,” he added, then said the “number one priority” of schools should be safeguarding children.
A spokesperson for the transgender children’s charity, Mermaids, said: “At Mermaids we hear of many schools who do a wonderful job supporting gender-diverse pupils who are simply trying to focus on their education.
“The small number of schools that are using financial resources and staff time to organise a blanket ban on trans pupils attending single sex schools is really sad and perplexing – can we think of another marginalised population of young people where this happens?
“At the heart of this is a young person who wants to learn, as themselves – it’s actually very simple when you think of it like that.
“We look back in history and can recall gender being a reason access was denied to girls and now we have that institution denying access to another marginalised group of learners. When will we learn?”
