CAMPAIGNERS in Cumbria have expressed fear over the potential impacts of new draft government guidance for teachers regarding transgender children.

The draft guidance, which was published on December 19 by the Department for  Education, aims to tell schools how to ‘support’ transgender, non-binary, and gender-fluid children.

The non-statutory guidance aims to provide information to teachers and school staff about how to approach a range of issues relating to transgender children in education, such as social transition, changing names and pronouns, access to single-sex spaces, and inclusion in sports and single-sex schools.

It will mean that children who seek 'social transition' in school will have this information relayed to parents by default, and schools will not be advised to use the child’s preferred name or pronouns.

The government said this guidance was produced after working closely with the Equality Hub and takes a ‘parent first approach’.

In the lead-up to this guidance being published, numerous leaks suggested the government may compel teachers to forcibly out transgender children to their parents and ban social transition altogether.

The guidance is under consultation for 12 weeks, but fears from LGBT and human rights groups have emerged that such guidance will come into play next year and have negative effects.

However, Pam Eland, chair of Pride in North Cumbria, an LGBT youth charity in Carlisle, said the guidelines offer no help to children and will weaken their security in schools.

“It’s like we’re going backwards in time, they’re just trying to forget that the LGBT community exists, it’s really scary," she said, adding that she feared more drastic and harmful impacts on young people who aren't able to begin their 'social transition'.

The worry is that unsupportive parents will disown their child if they know they are transgender. She said: “If the school outed them forcibly, it would lead to more homelessness.

“It is not up to the school to out them, the school is there to educate people.”

She is concerned this will lead to a further strain on the voluntary sector to offer support as it could exacerbate an ongoing mental health epidemic further: “Cumbria’s charities are supporting LGBT rights, but there is no support if any from the government.

“Services are going to have to be improved if schools are not going to be supporting anybody.”

Commenting on the government’s draft guidance for schools and colleges, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “The NEU will consider the document fully and take part in the consultation in January, after looking at the detail of what the government has proposed.

“Schools work hard to be sensitive, practical, and responsive to the well-being of students who are non-binary or questioning their gender identity.

“But there’s also a much wider picture beyond this guidance from which the Government is hiding – teachers need time for training on relevant parts of the curriculum, schools can’t fund much-needed pastoral support posts, and where LGBT students face mental health issues they experience very long CAMHS waiting lists.”