Two thirds of parents disagree with Tories and think schools should teach gender identity
May 21, 2024Most parents believe schools should educate their children about gender identity, according to a recent poll.
The market research company YouGov found that two-thirds of parents support sex education in schools where pupils learn that it is possible to be trans or non-binary, ‘Yahoo! News’ write.
This follows the government’s release of draft guidance suggesting that students should not have any sex education before Year 5 and that all pupils should be prohibited from learning about gender identity in schools.
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The controversial proposal has been widely criticised and compared to the Thatcher-era legislation, Section 28, which banned schools from “promoting” homosexuality from 1988 to 2003.
YouGov’s poll also revealed that 60% of respondents believe schools should teach pupils at an appropriate age that people can be non-binary, and 61% think children should be educated about trans identities.
Support is even higher among parents with at least one child under 18, with 67% believing non-binary identities should be included in school curricula, and 66% supporting the inclusion of transgender identities.
However, among parents of children under 18, about 25-26% said these topics should not be taught.
There was also a division among respondents regarding the appropriate timing for these discussions.
According to YouGov, the most favoured response (17%) was to introduce these discussions in Year 7, when students are aged 11-12.
Education secretary Gillian Keegan was unable to specify how prevalent the teaching of “inappropriate” material regarding gender identity is when asked about the evidence supporting this contentious ban.
She told BBC Breakfast: “Obviously there have been loads of newspaper reports, we’ve had certain parents saying they couldn’t access materials and we’ve seen campaign group or lobby groups’ materials – some people say they’ve seen them in schools, some people saying ‘we haven’t had them in our school’.”
She also mentioned that there was “some evidence from some people” that children were being taught there could be “72 genders” and that gender could “change daily.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed concern about children “being exposed to things which you just thought, really, is that the right age for them to be told certain things, discussing certain things.”
He also declined to specify what he knew about sex at the age of 13, stating he could not “remember” his own sex education when asked on ITV’s Loose Women.
Addressing claims that children have been taught about 72 genders, he said: “I don’t remember that being an issue when I was younger.”
Read related myGwork articles here:
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Guidance To Allow Trans Children To Socially Transition In English Schools
UK: Government Guidance For Trans Schools Promised By Christmas
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