Now Stonewall urges teachers to not use the terms ‘girls’ and ‘boys’
Now Stonewall urges teachers to not use the terms ‘girls’ and ‘boys’ to ‘avoid dividing learners by gender’ and mix sexes in PE lessons in guides sent to schools
- Guidance from the charity shows what Stonewall is suggesting to teachers
- School staff are being advised to avoid dividing pupils by gender or uniform
- The charity has also suggested mixed-sex sport and PE classes in schools
- Institutions can pay to be a member of the charity, and apply for awards to show how well they are following the charity’s ‘best practice’ guidelines
Stonewall has told teachers to drop the terms ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ in favour of ‘learners,’ and run mixed-sex PE classes.
The controversial LGBT charity is encouraging teachers to remove both gendered language and gendered uniforms in schools, and is suggesting that children should compete against those of the opposite sex in sport.
According to a series of guides from the charity, school uniform policies should ‘give the option to wear a skirt as well as the option to wear trousers’.
Stonewall has told teachers to drop the terms ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ in favour of ‘learners,’ and run mixed-sex PE classes. Pictured: Pupils take part in a PE class (file photo)
The charity’s work in primary schools is funded by the Government’s Equalities Office, according to one of Stonewall’s guides seen by The Daily Telegraph.
Stonewall’s guides advise staff to: ‘Avoid dividing learners by gender, whether in the classroom (you could divide them by their favourite colour, month of birth or something else) or through uniform, sports activities or other aspects of school life.’
One pamphlet states that transgender pupils should use the toilets, changing rooms and dormitories on school trips that they feel most comfortable being in.
Schools with fewer than 100 pupils that are members of the Stonewall School & College Champion programme pay a yearly minimum fee of £150 plus VAT.
This fee rises to £800 plus VAT for those with more than 2,000 pupils.
Stonewall member schools then apply for awards – bronze, silver or gold – to show how well they are following the charity’s ‘best practice’ guidelines.
To win the top awards, the guide tells schools: ‘It is unnecessary to say ‘boys and girls’ when referring to learners of all genders, you could instead say “learners”.’
Institutions are told they should check their policies are remove any ‘unnecessarily gendered language. Instead of using “he’/’she”, you could use “they”,’ it suggests.
The controversial LGBT charity (pictured, file photo) is encouraging teachers to remove both gendered language and gendered uniforms in schools, and is suggesting that children should compete against those of the opposite sex in sport
According to The Telegraph, St Paul’s – a private school in London – is among the hundreds of primary schools which are members of the charity’s scheme.
Speaking to the newspaper, Tanya Carter of Safe Schools Alliance UK, said that school sports should be ‘separated by sex for reasons of safety and fairness,’ particularly after an Ofsted report found widespread sexual harassment in schools.
The spokesperson for the parents and teachers campaign group added: ‘Single-sex sports are important to girls for reasons of privacy and dignity.’
Speaking on behalf of Stonewall, a spokesperson told The Telegraph that the charity was confident its advice fell in-line with guidance for schools in England from the government’s Department for Education.
A Government Equalities Office spokesperson said: ‘Six organisations were awarded funding to deliver programmes tackling anti-homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools across the country.
‘The funding was a one-off payment for 2019-20.’
