Teachers in England will have to tell parents if children question their gender

Don't blame the government. Name the people making these decisions.

The unfortunate truth is that the majority of the people who voted really did vote for this sort of government. For the past 1.5 decades.

The current opposition is like the Biden alternative. I don't have many hopes for them but we are at a stage where almost anything is better than this. The current government has been a clown show.

We've imported the culture wars from the US.

There's a range of anti trans lobbyists in the UK that are US funded, and our government is hoping that if you scare people about migrants and trans people for long enough, we'll forget that it's actually the Tory party that is destroying the country and vote them back in.

We have a very right wing cabinet, mainly due to everybody else getting kicked out/ resigning. They are very likely to get kicked out themselves next year, but due to the fixed term parliament law they are basically untouchable until then, so they are getting as much shit done as they can before they get replaced.

Exactly. Puts you in a position where not only are you legally required to potentially put a child in direct line of fire by ousting them, you then can't then do jack about it until the situation turns visibly abusive.

I've been arguing it out with someone that safeguarding absolutely includes (or should've included) the right of teachers (or more so the school) to not disclose information that could potentially lead to abuse.

Teachers are usually the first non-parental authority figures kids will go to with these types of questions, and now they're being cut off from that safe space.

Strict surveillance doesn't raise more honest people, it raises better liars.

You act like zero teachers agree with this shit...

That's the point, run out anyone that's not on the same "team"

God damn... I looked this person up, expecting some asshole white guy,..... and it's a black woman. Hate and bigotry really transcends race and gender.

Because bigots have literally tortured their kids over being queer forever. Kids who don't feel safe coming out at home usually have a good reason from fear of abuse to becoming homeless.

Because there are deeply bigoted parents that would hit their child if they found out. Maybe try to see it from their viewpoint?

My dream Brexit outcome is that Scotland eventually gets a second referendum and leaves, then joins the EU by itself, then vetoes the rest of the UK when it tries to rejoin.

I'm not Scottish and this outcome would kind of fuck me over personally as well, but it would be hilarious and we'd fully deserve it.

Bloomers are currently aged 57-75. It's Gen X (46-56yrs old) and Millenials (25-40yrs old) that currently have most of the kids in school. Agree with the rest of your comment though.

As a millennial with a child, I'm so glad my parents didn't have half the shit available to them that my generation has. Even in a lot of daycares the parents can watch the CCTV live of their child. Literally just sit there at work and watch their child.

And that's before you get into tracking when kids get phones.

Boomers are born 1945-65ish. Usually they do not have kids in school anynore. This is the younger generation. X or millennials

That's completely besides the point. Teachers are responsible for a child's wellbeing when they are looking after them, and as part of that tbr child might bring that up to their teacher and the child should be able to trust in that teacher to keep it from parents who might react negatively to that news, much like you would a doctor.

This law doesn't change the education the child receives it only serves to put trans kids at risk of abuse from their parents.

Its not possible to leave it out of instruction. The purpose of education (as it currently exists, and as they claim it to be) is to prepare children to function as adults in society. Some kids have racist parents, some kids have homophobic parents, some kids have misogynistic parents, some children are abused at home or are taught hatred and bigotry. The state has an obligation to advocate for the rights of children, because children are vulnerable and are not capable of removing themselves from an abusive home. Its the entire reason protective services exists in theory. Children are not possessions, you cannot just do whatever you want to your child, your child has the same fundamental human rights as any other human being. And like any other vulnerable human being, society has to ensure that the rights of children are being respected.

Children who are outted to their parents can face homelessness, abuse, psychological torture in conversion camps, ostracization from their friends and communities, isolation, manipulation, and bullying. It can end lives. Children can and do die because they are outted to their transphobic parents. As I said, society had a responsibility to ensure that the rights of children are being respected. The right to safety and security is one such right that is compromised by forcibly outting children to their parents. Educators should ALWAYS have to listen to the child and take no action without the permission of that child. Because children are people, and people are supposed to have rights. Children are not possessions of their parents, they are human beings who have fundamental rights the same as any other human being. The state should not be considering parents at all in this equation. The only person who needs to consider whether or not parents should know would be the children in question.

Children should also be taught about the existence of gay and trans people as part of regular education. The state has an obligation to provide proper education to everyone. Proper education should take steps to mitigate bigotry. Anti racism should be taught in schools, feminism and women's rights should be taught in schools. It is much the same with gay and trans rights.

Sounds like disingenuous braying to me.

Part of education, especially childhood education, has to be teaching children about the world they live in and how to navigate it. Which does mean that they need to be taught about tolerance and the differences between people. That's necessary for understanding and navigating the world they're entering. And teachers are there to guide them on that journey and keep them safe. To be an adult to whom they can ask questions without fear of reprisal. To be someone primarily interested in their success and not some other political goal.

Conservatives are the ones stepping into this process and interfering. Forbidding teachers to teach about the world. And forcing teachers to violate the confidence needed to keep children safe. Conservatives are the ones trying to replace education with a tool for indoctrination.

The only interpretation of a rule like the one in this article is that there is a belief that a child questioning their gender is equivalent to a child admitting to some kind of self-harm. It's pure bigotry and cruelty from people who know nothing and resist learning anything about the science and psychology of the subject. It is part of a genocidal agenda of demonizing and denying part of human identity. It is unacceptable. And worse, it's a violation of the fundamental relationship between the teacher and the student. It's interfering with and taking focus from education.

Be an ally of the human race or shut the fuck up.

So you agree schools should focus on educating students rather than ratting them out to parents they don't trust?

If your child is too afraid of telling you something important about themselves or their lives, that is a YOU problem. Public servants exist to protect children from risks to their health and safety, including risks at home. Nobody has a right to abuse their children. If you want to know about their lives and challenges, you need to make yourself a safe person for them to confide in. If you are not, that's on you and you alone.

Estimates of child abuse range from 10-20% of all school age children in the UK. Any person who is working in a classroom (including TAs and volunteers) has had some amount of safeguarding training to help mitigate the risk of harm to children.

It is literally our/their job to help prevent or mitigate harm that might come to children in their home lives, and teachers, admins, and safeguarding leads make decisions every day based on a clear and well-monitored framework to do so. This decision, made by people with little or no experience in the field, spits in the face of all of that.

You sound like exactly the kind of parent teachers should avoid sharing any information with. You claim to be against abuse but you want to force teachers to share information that is well known to result in kids being abused by their parents.

Kids are not your property.

If your kid is trans or gay and they don't feel safe coming out to you then that's your fault. There are no decisions being made. Kids are going to be queer weather you like it or not.

If you think you can "do something" about your kids being queer then that's probably why they don't want to tell you.

Are you going to follow this up by claiming the right to physical violence against your child if they don't conform?

They have qualifications to do their job. The only qualifications you have is you fucked one night and nine months later popped out a baby. But that suddenly makes you the expert.

You sound like a devil trying to control your children like that.

Exactly. I need you for one purpose: Teach my child

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Until a kid is 18, they're -legally- 100% my responsibility and how they're raised is my call.

Like most things in life, it depends on the kind of people the parents are.

The ability to have unprotected sex doesn’t give anyone special powers, or make them a better person by default.

Some parents are awful.

In a perfect world, sure. Here in the real world, some parents are shitty people.

Given that there are plenty of parents who are transphobic and will in fact do irreparable damage to the children in question... no.

What if they're abusive?

You do understand that there are parents who would make their children homeless (or worse) over issues of sexuality and gender right?

Is it that important to be able to snoop on every facet of your child's life that you support turning what should've been a safespace for children who find themselves in the above scenario into yet another place they're forced to hide.

Also, if you're at the point where you're resorting to using the law to force secrets out of your children, rather than having them trust you enough to just tell you, you should probably question your relationship with your children.

Parents should be aware of what is going on in their kids' lives.

This means being a parent and actively being involved in their life. It does not mean abusing the trust that kids give to teachers, councilors, therapists and other adults they might confide in.

The kinds of things that some parents bully, punish, disown and/or murder their children for should very much be hidden from them if the child chooses to hide it. It's no one else's business and, if the child has not yet told them themselves, breaking their confidence is an attempt to ruin their life and quite possibly end it.

This is stochastic terrorism from this fascist government, desperate for any distraction at all from their kleptocratic ways.

Even things kids specifically do not want their parents to know because they have good reasons to believe it will lead to their parents abusing them?

Social media won't like it, because they think that government employees should be determining what's okay, not the people themselves.