Minister says trans pupils in single-sex spaces is a 'minefield'

The Minister for Children and Families today said he would not be ‘overly happy’ about his daughters sharing a boarding house with a pupil identifying as a trans girl. 

Will Quince said the issue of trans pupils accessing single-sex spaces in education settings is ‘a bit of a minefield’. 

He made the comments as he was grilled by MPs as he gave evidence to the Education Select Committee.  

Tory MP Caroline Johnson said she had been contacted by parents ‘who are concerned about the presence of an 18-year-old trans woman in the boarding house of their teenage daughters’.

Will Quince said the issue of trans pupils accessing single-sex spaces in education settings is ‘a bit of a minefield’

She asked: ‘So what guidance does the department provide to schools on managing these situations in a sensitive way that provides for the privacy, dignity and wellbeing of all students?’

Mr Quince replied: ‘This area is a bit of a minefield, if we are being honest, and we are working very closely with the government Equalities Office to formulate our guidance in this space.

‘Yes, we have got RHSE curriculum, conscious the school you reference is independent, I think, so it falls within an ever so slightly different framework.

‘I think there are two sort of competing priorities here. The first is the 2010 Equalities Act and the importance that all children and young people must be treated equally and where there are protected characteristics that they are recognised.

‘But at the same time, any school also has legal obligations, a duty to safeguard and protect and promote the welfare of all children and on the face of what you have just said, as a parent, and in particular a parent of two young girls, I probably wouldn’t be overly happy with the situation you have described.

‘So I think given it is independent it is slightly more complex but I would suggest that the parents speak with the headteacher, the governors and if necessary raises it because they are not going to be covered by Ofsted but the Independent Schools Inspectorate.’

Ms Johnson asked if the Government should be providing guidance to schools on the issue.

She told Mr Quince: ‘You said it is a minefield but schools need help navigating that minefield and obviously they don’t want to get caught up in legal wrangles.

‘Would it be not best if the Government provided some detailed guidance on how schools can manage the wellbeing of all students?’

Mr Quince said: ‘I will speak to the Schools Minister and I am sure that that will be in progress alongside the Government Equalities Office.

‘But at the same time, you can give all the guidance in the world that sets out the legal position but you need schools to, firstly, use their common sense and follow the law as it stands at the moment and I would suggest that the duty to protect and to safeguard should probably override anything else.’

Tory MP Caroline Johnson said she had been contacted by parents ‘who are concerned about the presence of an 18-year-old trans woman in the boarding house of their teenage daughters’

A spokesperson for the transgender children’s charity Mermaids said: ‘At Mermaids we hear of many schools who do a wonderful job supporting gender-diverse pupils who are simply trying to focus on their education.

‘The small number of schools that are using financial resources and staff time to organise a blanket ban on trans pupils attending single sex schools is really sad and perplexing – can we think of another marginalised population of young people where this happens?

‘At the heart of this is a young person who wants to learn, as themselves – it’s actually very simple when you think of it like that.

‘We look back in history and can recall gender being a reason access was denied to girls and now we have that institution denying access to another marginalised group of learners. When will we learn?’