A number of secondary schools are not informing parents as soon as a child questions their gender identity, a report suggests.
Safeguarding principles are being “routinely disregarded in many secondary schools” when it comes to gender identity, according to a paper by centre-right think tank Policy Exchange.
Some schools suggested that informing parents when their child questioned their gender identity, or expressed a wish to change gender, would breach the child’s confidentiality, the report says.
The research by Policy Exchange, which sent Freedom of Information (FoI) requests to more than 300 secondary schools in England, suggests that some schools do not maintain single-sex toilets or changing rooms.
It says: “While many schools believe they are acting in a child’s best interests, there is no circumstance in which safeguarding norms should be compromised. Nonetheless, this is happening across the country.”
