Guidance released on “gender-questioning” children

The government has published an updated draft version of Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE). This is a regular update of the statutory safeguarding guidance for schools and colleges. It includes long-awaited guidance in relation to “gender questioning” children.

This will be welcomed by school leaders, who have been struggling without official guidance.

KCSIE sets out the legal duties of schools and colleges in England to safeguard and promote the welfare of children under 18. This latest version will be finalised and come into operation in September 2026 following a consultation.

Sex Matters welcomes the integration of this guidance into the statutory safeguarding framework. CEO Maya Forsater said:

“We welcome the news that the long-awaited guidance for schools on ‘gender-questioning children’ has been integrated into the statutory safeguarding framework. This is the right way to think about how to ensure the safeguarding and wellbeing of all children and young people in school.

“Putting this guidance into the statutory framework makes clear that schools have the same legal duties towards all children, and it ensures that the guidance can be updated.

“The guidance gives non-negotiable red lines for every school and every child: schools must know, record and be able to refer to each child’s sex, and must not allow any child to use opposite-sex toilets, changing rooms or dormitories on school trips.

“However, schools are still being left with the dangerous idea that they can facilitate ‘social transition’ – which remains undefined – and that they should negotiate this on a case-by-case basis.

“It should be clear by now that allowing children and parents to think that a child who starts their education recognised as being a girl can somehow graduate ‘as a boy’ or vice versa is a dangerous fairy tale that gives children unrealistic expectations that simply cannot be fulfilled.”

What does the guidance say?

The guidance says that schools should consider developing a policy on what to do when children request to socially transition, and should take a careful approach:

“Schools and colleges should consider whether pupils would be best supported by a policy on social transition which explains the steps that a school or college will go through when a child requests support. When considering any request for support with social transition, schools and colleges should ensure that their decision-making process is documented and records are kept.”

It also says that schools should always recognise that children’s best interests are paramount, and that this is not always the same as what the child wants:

“This means that the first step when considering a child’s request for support with social transition will be to consider what is in the best interests of the child and other children, and a decision relating to social transition may not be the same as a child’s wishes.”

The recommendation to adopt a clear policy is welcome and in line with the model policy approach proposed by Sex Matters.

However, the guidance does not say what it means by the phrase “socially transition”. Sex Matters’ recommendation is that schools have clear policies on sex-based rules and record-keeping and that they should respond to children experiencing mental distress not with a “social transition” plan but with education and care plans which aim to ensure the child can continue to access education.

The guidance draws some bright lines, categorically ruling out many of the things a child seeking to “socially transition” might want:

“Schools must not allow pupils into toilets, changing rooms, or boarding or residential accommodation designated for the opposite sex, with no exceptions. Similarly, where schools have implemented single-sex sports as being necessary for safety reasons, there should be no exceptions and pupils must not be allowed to participate in sports designated for the opposite sex.”

But it leaves the question of what it means by “social transition” vague and open to negotiation. It also anticipates that some children may attend school “in stealth”, with teachers and other pupils believing them to be the opposite sex. This is not consistent with safeguarding these children or their peers.

Schools are being told that they should “always consider any clinical advice the family has received”, but the Department for Education has set no limits for clinicians or the NHS in this regard. It has failed to explain to them that children cannot expect to be treated as the opposite sex within a school setting. Dr Hilary Cass’s expert review focused on clinical decision-making, and did not consider decision-making by schools, or other children’s rights and welfare, and the government is pushing ahead with putting a new cohort of children on puberty blockers in the name of medical research.

It is alarming that once again schools are being encouraged to take a “doctor knows best” approach, when doctors and medical researchers have been encouraging children and families to have unrealistic expectations of what can safely, reasonably and lawfully be accommodated by schools.

The KCSIE guidance consultation is open for 10 weeks and Sex Matters will be responding.

See Sex Matters’ model policy for schools.