Bridget Phillipson said on LBC radio that boys should be able to wear skirts at school (Image: Getty)
Boys should be allowed to wear skirts at school, according to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. She said yesterday (Wednesday, February 24) that letting them explore their gender and “experiment” at a young age could decrease the amount that undergo surgery at a later date.
The Department for Education (DfE) recently released guidance which said students should be able to socially transition. However, it reiterated the importance of protecting single-sex spaces such as toilets. The DfE added that schools should consider providing an alternative facility if a child does not want to use toilets or changing rooms designated to their biological sex.
Ms Phillipson was asked on LBC radio if boys could dress as girls at school. She replied: “So if a boy wants to wear dresses, we should just, if we allow that to work, children will experiment at different points, they will consider who they are.
“Taking a watchful approach, not coming down too hard on that actually reduces what we see in terms of children moving towards a more medicalised model.”
The Labour minister added that the number of young children who consider transitioning remains low. She said it would be “exceptionally rare for primary schools to be operating that.”
Ms Phillipson continued: “But I’ve also been clear that in anything in that space, unless there are very strong safeguarding reasons where a child is at risk of harm, parents should be involved in those important decisions.”
The education secretary is urging schools to take a ‘watchful’ approach (Image: Getty)
However, Reform UK’s education spokeswoman Suella Braverman said: “Parents just want schools to be a place of learning rather than indoctrination.”
Meanwhile, Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott said children as young as five “should not be socially transitioning”. She added: “This is wrong.”
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The Government recently said schools must maintain single-sex spaces, including separate toilet facilities for boys and girls over the age of eight. According to the draft Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance, the number of children questioning how they feel about being a boy or a girl has risen in recent years.
The guidance added: “It is not for schools and colleges to initiate any action in this area; this guidance is focused on circumstances where a child or their parent has raised a request relating to social transition to which a school or college is responding.”
