Teachers have the right to ask pupils to call them ‘Mx’ instead of Mr, Mrs or Miss, Bridget Phillipson has said.
The Education Secretary said teachers can ‘request’ that children call them by the gender-neutral honorific instead of traditional titles.
Women’s rights groups criticised Ms Phillipson for bringing a ‘contested ideology’ into classrooms and said children should only be taught the fact of biological sex.
On whether teachers be referred to as Mx – a gender-neutral honorific used by people who do not identify as either male or female – Ms Phillipson said they ‘can make that request’.
She told LBC: ‘But of course, what we’ll be looking at is making sure that people are able to exercise their views on this topic too.
‘This has been the subject of various legal cases as well about people’s rights in terms of how they approach questions of gender identity.
‘We’ll consider all areas of the practical guidance that schools need and responding to the challenges that they tell us they’ve faced.’
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said teachers can ‘request’ that children call them by the gender-neutral honorific ‘Mx’ instead of traditional titles
Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns at human rights charity Sex Matters, said that schools should not being telling children that teachers can be neither male nor female and pupils ‘should be taught the facts about biological sex’.
She added: ‘School heads and teachers urgently need joined up and sensible guidance that safeguards every child, with the wellbeing of all pupils at its heart, whether they identify as trans or not.
‘What is the Education Secretary’s priority? A teacher’s personal sense of identity, or the education and wellbeing of children?’
Ms Phillipson was also unable to say when the long-awaited transgender guidance for schools would be shared with teachers – more than a year after the election.
Draft guidance published by the Tories in late 2023 urged caution when children ask to ‘socially transition’ to the opposite gender and said that parents should not be kept in the dark. It also forbids schools from teaching ‘gender identity’ views as fact.
But when the Tories lost the election last year, Labour placed it under ‘review’, leaving schools in limbo ever since despite renewed pressure after the Supreme Court said trans women aren’t legally female.
Ms Phillipson was also unable to say when the long-awaited transgender guidance for schools would be shared with teachers – more than a year after the election (stock image)
On when the guidance might be released, Ms Phillipson told LBC yesterday [TUES]: ‘So the last government were consulting on this at the point of the election.
‘That consultation concluded, and we had to look at all of those responses. But also what happened subsequently was Dr Hilary Cass published her final review around gender questioning children.
‘So I think it is important, given the sensitivity of this area, that we make sure that the guidance we publish is aligned fully with Dr Cass’s recommendations. And I do think it’s important we take the time to get this right…
She added: ‘This is an important area. This is about children’s wellbeing. It’s about making sure they’ve got the support they need and schools have got the clarity of the guidance too.’
A Department for Education spokesman said: ‘While teachers can make such requests, the Education Secretary was clear it’s not something that they can insist on.
‘Teachers and pupils should be treated with respect.’
