School guidance claiming three-year-olds know they are trans finally ditched

CCEA confirmed the content was “removed” as it referenced research which was now over a decade old.

Previous guidance for primary schools in Ulster was aimed at supporting “transgender or gender-questioning children”.

It added: “Research shows that transgender young people become aware that their assigned birth sex is different from their gender identity between the ages of three and five.”

Initial guidance pushed following research funded by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister in 2013, was controversially rolled back on.

RSE is taught based on the school ethos adopted by individual schools in Ulster.

However, following a law change at Westminster in 2023, post-primary schools in Northern Ireland will teach pupils about access to abortion and prevention of early pregnancy.

Rainbow Project, a charity supporting LGBT+ people in Northern Ireland, suggested the change was technical rather than explicit.

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Alexa Moore said: "It's clear that this change is being made on a technicality, rather than an explicit change of policy.

"Whatever the guidance says, we know that trans people explore their identity and come out across a wide range of ages, and they deserve support regardless of that age."

Moore added: "We would welcome more investment in research on the needs and experiences of trans and gender-diverse young people in primary education, with the view to ensuring that those young people are supported and given the space to explore their identity in a safe and non-directive manner."

Fiona McAnena, who is director at the human rights charity Sex Matters, warned previous guidance was not progressive.

McAnena, who argued it was "encouraging children to take on board gender stereotypes and to use them to judge themselves and judge other people", added: "Sometimes you do have to make special provision for individual children."

"If there is a little boy who's hugely distressed about using the boys' toilets – for whatever reason – then a school may try to make separate arrangements for them, if that's possible.

"But you can't let them go into the girls' toilets because then that affects everyone else.

"It's certainly progress that people are not being told that three-year-old boys know that they're really girls.

"That's just dangerous and foolish. Everyone should be free from stereotypes and children should not be encouraged to think that maybe if they don't confirm to stereotypes they're the other sex."

She also said: "There is a need for guidance, but no child is transgender.

"Most children who are confused about their sex grow out of that through puberty."

A spokesperson for CCEA claimed that "in quality assuring the site, the content was removed as it referenced research which is over 10 years old".

They added: "In line with its quality control processes, CCEA will ensure that the content and guidance on the Hub is reviewed on an ongoing basis and updated as appropriate."