Sir Keir Starmer has appointed his cabinet following a landslide Labour victory last week, with the post of Secretary of State for Education going to Bridget Phillipson.
The MP for Houghton and Sunderland South has also been named as Minister for Women and Equalities, where she will have responsibility for equality policy involving not just women, but transgender people as well.
To get a sense of what she’s likely to do with these shared portfolios, and in particular where she stands on whether gender identity ideology should be taught as ‘fact’ in schools, it’s useful to consider some of the opinions she’s expressed previously.
But first, some context. Back in December 2023, the previous government published draft guidance for schools and colleges in England on how to manage gender questioning children.
Drawn up by Education Secretary Gillian Keegan and Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch the non-statutory guidance was intended to counter the growing influence in schools of a particularly doctrinaire form of gender identity ideology favoured by activist teachers which brooks no opposition.
The guidance document that went out for consultation urges schools to take a cautious approach to children who want to transition socially (i.e., where they adopt the pronouns and dress of the opposite gender without any medical interventions), and makes clear that headteachers must now tell parents if their child wants to change gender. Henceforth, the advice states, schools cannot start treating children as if they’re the opposite gender to their biological gender without parental consent.
New protections for freedom of belief and speech were proposed by the guidance, which recognised that gender identity ideology “is a contested belief” and that parents, teachers and governors must be able to question it without fear of sanction.
The guidance also pushed back against any insistence by schools that staff and pupils must use the preferred pronouns of transgender people, noting that “no teacher or pupils should be compelled to use preferred pronouns”.
Following release of this guidance last year, in May the previous government published separate draft guidance for consultation on relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) lessons, which are taught at both primary and secondary schools.
The consultation followed Rishi Sunak’s decision to order a review into RSHE lessons last year in response to reports of pupils at some schools being taught inappropriate content, e.g. there are 72 different genders.
Following the advice of an independent panel of experts, the government’s draft guidance made it clear that the concept of gender identity is contested and should not be taught in schools.
As per the consultation document, “schools should not teach pupils about the contested concept of gender identity”. It continued:
Along with other factors, discussing such theories with pupils could prompt some pupils to start to question their gender. The new content is informed by the outcome of the Cass Review and the principles that underpin the draft guidance for schools and colleges on gender questioning pupils (gender questioning guidance), both of which advocate for a cautious approach…
The new guidance states: […]
- Schools should not teach about the concept of “gender identity” which is a highly contested and complex concept
- If asked about the topic of gender identity, schools should teach the facts about biological sex and not use any materials that present contested views as fact, including the view that gender is a spectrum.
So will a Department for Education led by Bridget Phillipson implement this latest RSHE guidance?
It’s difficult to predict what the new Secretary of State is going to do, principally because when she was questioned over the issue during a crucial pre-election interview, there was some confusion as to whether the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg was referring to the May guidance – which bans the teaching of gender identity ideology – or the December guidance – which completed its consultation period earlier this year, but merely states that gender identity ideology is a “contested belief”.
Kuenssberg began by pointing out that “the government published some draft guidance, which included banning the teaching of the concept of gender identity [ideology]”, and that the “expectation” now was that it was “due to start being used later in the year”.
“If you win the general election,” she asks, “will that still happen?”
Unfortunately, Phillipson misunderstands and thinks Kuenssberg is referring to the December guidance – which urges schools to take a cautious approach to children who want to transition socially and pushes back on compelled pronoun usage in the classroom – and responds as follows:
The principle of guidance I think is an important one, that’s what I hear from school leaders across the country. They want clarity on how to manage what is a sensitive and difficult area for them. I think what we do need to see on this, we absolutely do need to see guidance. A Labour government, if we win the trust of the British people, will make sure that happens. But let’s make sure that children’s wellbeing is at the heart of this. Let’s stop this being a political football. This is our children’s lives, their wellbeing. It’s too important to make this a culture wars issue on the front pages of newspapers. Let’s take a more responsible approach, give schools the clear guidance they need, and make sure our young people are supported as well.
Apparently still believing the topic of conversation is the May guidance not the December guidance, Kuenssberg goes on to ask what this “more responsible” guidance would look like, and whether Labour supports the Conservative government’s proposal to ban the teaching of gender ideology as fact. Yet Phillipson clearly thinks she’s still talking about the December guidance, as is obvious from her reference to “the consultation”. To be clear, the December guidance has been consulted about, but the May guidance has not and was never intended to be:
Many aspects of the draft had good and straightforward principles in it. Other elements of it, I think, drifted far too much into partisan and unnecessary language that I think makes it harder for schools to navigate this. So if I were Education Secretary, I’d want to look at all of the responses to the consultation that we’ve received.
Pressed on what Kuenssberg describes as the “very sensitive issue” of whether a Labour government will ditch the ban on teaching gender identity, Phillipson continues to respond as if being questioned about the December guidance: “There are trans people within society, and their existence should be recognised. They have legal – ”.
“So you wouldn’t ditch the ban?” Kuenssberg interrupts.
“This drifts, I think, sometimes, into a slightly bizarre conversation,” a visibly irritated Phillipson replies. “They have a right for their existence to be recognised. Many trans people are vulnerable and are deserving of support. Alongside that we’ve got to make sure that schools have got clear guidance about how best to support children and young people that are experiencing distress and issues around their wellbeing.”
She’s clearly talking about the December guidance, even though Kuenssberg is clearly asking her about the May guidance. Was this a clever politician’s trick to avoid answering the question? Or is Phillipson simply not across her brief?
What we know for sure is that since the election, an article originally posted to the Department for Education’s online ‘Education Hub’ on 16th May 2024 and titled ‘New RSHE guidance: What it means for sex education lessons in schools’ has been given a new, big bold heading that reads: “This blog post was published under the 2015-2024 Conservative Administration.”
That suggests Labour won’t implement the RSHE guidance and gender identity ideology will still be taught as fact in England’s schools.
