Official Report 1294KB pdf
“Supporting Transgender Pupils In Schools” (Consultation)
To ask the Scottish Government who it consulted before producing the “Supporting Transgender Pupils in Schools: Guidance for education authorities and schools”, which it published yesterday.
The revised guidance has been developed to respond to and take account of recent legal decisions. There has been engagement with education authorities and trade unions to understand the concerns that are experienced in our schools. The guidance on which the revised guidance is based was developed in the light of engagement with a range of stakeholders, including parents and carers, education representatives, LGBT organisations and women’s organisations.
The Scottish Government has been taking forward the detailed work that is necessary as a consequence of the Supreme Court’s ruling. We remain committed to engaging with and involving partners and stakeholders throughout that process, as and when appropriate.
I make it absolutely clear that the rights of all children and young people must be respected in our schools. We have brought forward updates to the guidance to provide clarity and confidence to teachers and staff as they work to support the mental, physical and emotional health of transgender young people in our schools.
Yesterday, the Scottish National Party Government published new guidance that was meant to give schools clarity about how boys’ and girls’ toilets and changing room facilities should be provided. Yet, instead of finally protecting single-sex spaces, the muddled new SNP guidance has confused matters further.
This morning, the SNP education secretary repeatedly refused to state whether biological males could still use girls’ toilets and changing rooms in our schools. I therefore give the cabinet secretary the opportunity to answer yes or no to a simple question: under the guidance, can biological males who identify as women still use girls’ toilets?
It is important to say that we have been clear since the Supreme Court’s ruling that we accept the judgment on biological sex. I also put it on the record that, under the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967, our schools already provide toilets for boys and girls. That is stipulated in legislation at the current time. There is also a requirement in relation to accessible toilets.
More broadly, as I alluded to in my previous response, the rights of all children and young people must be respected in our schools. It is also important to remember that transgender people represent 0.44 per cent of the population of Scotland. Evidence tells us that transgender young people have significantly worse educational and wellbeing outcomes than other pupils. They are much more at risk of bullying, they are more likely to leave education early and they are at risk of increased mental health and wellbeing concerns.
We have updated the guidance in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling, and I have responded to the member’s point in relation to the law and the stipulation that relates to the point that she has raised on single-sex spaces.
All that I needed was yes or no, but, obviously, I did not get that.
What is even more disturbing about the guidance is who has helped to develop it. The guidance boasts that it was developed by LGBT Youth Scotland. That taxpayer-funded lobbying group previously produced guidance that suggested that there was no such thing as biological sex, which was widely criticised by child health experts, including one who said that that guidance simply should not be accessible to our school children. Why on earth is the SNP Government still taking its cue from an extreme gender ideology lobbying group instead of the Supreme Court?
I think that the member is somewhat misguided in relation to the point that she made about stakeholder engagement.
I have been very clear that, throughout the course of the months that have passed since the Supreme Court’s ruling, we have engaged with trade unions, in particular, in order to hear from them about their members’ experiences, and with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities directly.
Our stakeholder engagement has also included the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland—I hope that the member does not have an issue with us engaging with ADES—COSLA, which I have already alluded to, Education Scotland, Engender, LGBT Youth Scotland, the National Parent Forum of Scotland, Rape Crisis Scotland, sportscotland, Stonewall Scotland and the Scottish Trans Alliance. That is a list of the organisations that were engaged with back in 2021.
The update that I provided yesterday is a technical change, and it, of course, relates directly to recent legal changes that have come forward. We have updated the guidance in accordance with those legal changes.
A large number of colleagues want to ask supplementary questions. It is unlikely that I will get through all of them, but I will require brevity in both the questions and the responses.
A large number of colleagues want to ask supplementary questions. It is unlikely that I will get through all of them, but I will require brevity in both the questions and the responses.
Ensuring support for transgender children in Scotland’s schools is absolutely vital to their wellbeing and learning experience. Can the cabinet secretary speak further on how the guidance will contribute to that objective?
I thank the member for raising an important point. As I have already alluded to, the rights of all children and young people must be respected in our schools.
I have now spent a number of meetings engaging with our trade unions and listening to COSLA about members’ and teachers’ feedback on what is happening in our schools. I want to again put on the record that we are talking about a very small percentage of Scotland’s pupil population at the current time.
However, it is important that the Government updates our guidance in relation to the Supreme Court ruling. It is absolutely right that schools play their part, along with others, in ensuring that those young people who are feeling particularly vulnerable at the current time are supported, and the guidance goes a long way in helping to provide for that.
The Scottish Government’s guidance for school estates says:
“Discrimination requirements under the Equality Act and inclusion measures should be dealt with under suitability.”
Will the cabinet secretary reassure members that the new guidance will give schools a clear understanding of their duty to support the rights of all pupils to safely access toilet facilities when conducting future suitability surveys?
The national guidance goes some way towards providing for that. We have had clear engagement with COSLA on the issue, and with the trade unions, which have been very helpful.
I listened to some of the really helpful contributions from Andrea Bradley on BBC Radio Scotland this morning. The Educational Institute of Scotland has been very outspoken in its views on the issue, and I welcome its contributions in that regard. The EIS is keen to provide support to its members, but it is also keen to tell me about the impact that recent decisions have had in relation to schools in particular.
I have been clear that we had to update the guidance in line with the Supreme Court ruling. We have undertaken that work over a number of months to ensure that we are compliant with the ruling, and the updated guidance was published yesterday to that end.
Although some members might not want to accept it, the people who are most directly affected by the changes are trans and non-binary young people themselves.
The cabinet secretary referred to the document that was published by LGBT Youth Scotland some years ago. Can she tell us what input young trans and non-binary people, and the organisations that work with and represent them, have had to the recent changes—whether LGBT Youth Scotland, the Time for Inclusive Education campaign, Scottish Trans or others? If the answer is none, why is that?
As I alluded to in my response to Ms Gosal, the update to the guidance is technical in nature and responds directly to the Supreme Court’s ruling in that regard.
However, as I set out in my previous answer, we will continue to engage with a range of organisations, including the ones that Mr Harvie alluded to. It is really important that the Government listens to the views of young people on those issues directly.
We continue to fund LGBT Youth Scotland. We also provide funding to the TIE campaign to deliver work around inclusive education in our schools—which, of course, every party was able to vote for back in 2018. It is important that we remember the solidarity that existed previously on these issues.
I will continue to work with the organisations that Mr Harvie alluded to, and particularly to listen to the voice of young people in all that I do as education secretary.
Whatever one’s point of view on these matters, everyone can recognise that it is harder to be trans in Scotland than it used to be.
When trans pupils go to school, they want to be clear about what is expected of them, and they want to know that their anonymity will be protected—if they want it to be—and that teachers, staff and other pupils are there to support them.
When it comes to teachers, I have no doubt that they will want to know that the conversations and plans that the guidance suggests that they carry out will be done in the most sensitive manner possible. In that spirit, what further assistance and assurance can the cabinet secretary provide to trans pupils and teachers in navigating these issues?
In my response to Mr Harvie, I talked about some of the support that we provide, such as funding to the TIE campaign and to LGBT Youth Scotland. I engage directly with our teaching trade unions, and, over the past few months since the Supreme Court’s ruling I have engaged on that issue in particular and how it is impacting on staff in our schools and their engagement with pupils. I will continue to engage in that way with our professional associations and to listen to views from their members about how we might be able to strengthen that support and look at further considerations in that regard. The member has raised a very important point.
The Scottish Government’s revised guidance for schools refers young people and families to charities such as Mermaids and Time for Inclusive Education for help. That is despite Mermaids being criticised for giving young people chest binders without their parents’ involvement, and despite TIE providing schools with guidance that promotes gender ideology.
I have been contacted by numerous parents—
Question.
—who are concerned about gender ideology literature in schools. Does the cabinet secretary think that it is appropriate to give such literature to primary children, and will she review the extent of that practice?
The revised guidance remains clear that schools should support young people who are considering their gender identity. That is an individual’s choice, and it is for schools not to influence or to determine a young person’s choice, but to support them once it is established that they are considering changing their gender identity.
The guidance also talks about parental communication, which for me, as a former teacher, is hugely important, as engagement and support can be offered to young people not only through the whole school community but through the home. It is important that that approach is considered and that support is provided in the round, and the guidance provides some detailed examples of how that might be undertaken.
I see that the member is shaking her head at me, but I hope that she engages on the substantive points that are made in the guidance on that point.
The cabinet secretary is refusing to answer a very straightforward question. Under the guidance, could a biological male use a female single-sex-only toilet in a Scottish school?
As I think that I alluded to in a response to the member’s colleague, all schools in Scotland are required to provide separate toilets for girls and for boys—that is stipulated in law. In addition, the guidance makes it clear that councils should give careful consideration to
“the individual needs of transgender pupils in light of ... school context”
and in the light of their school community.
Apologies to those whom I was not able to call. I am conscious of the business that we still have to get through this afternoon and this evening, so we need to move on to the next item of business.
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