Boys should be allowed to experiment and wear dresses at primary school, according to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson.
Appearing on LBC’s Call the Cabinet, she urged schools not to “come down too hard” on children who believe they may be transgender.
Her comments follow government guidance published by earlier this month allowing primary aged pupils to change their gender at school as long as teachers consult parents.
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The Telegraph reports: The advice states that before allowing a child to transition socially, schools must consider any clinical advice the family has received, and speak to the parents or guardians unless there is a genuine safeguarding reason not to.
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On Tuesday, Ms Phillipson was asked during a phone-in with LBC’s Nick Ferrari about the new guidance and how “broad” the role of school staff had now become.
She replied: “I agree with that. I want teachers to focus on what matters most, which is raising standards, supporting children and delivering a brilliant education. I think Jo [the caller] was asking about guidance that was around gender-questioning children.”
Asked by Ferrari whether she was comfortable with a five-year-old boy wanting to be referred to by a girl’s name, Ms Phillipson responded: “We’ve been clear that in primary schools, we need to tread with a lot of care.”
Told that she had avoided the question, she said: “This was usually where it involves a parent’s decision to support their child in that way.”
Ms Phillipson was then asked whether someone aged five could know if they wanted to be a man or a woman.
She replied: “This was part of what, actually, Hilary Cass said in her review, that in allowing children just to consider who they are, to behave in ways that might not be aligned with their sex, their gender … 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. But just 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.
“I’ve been clear that 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.”
Under the plans announced by Ms Phillipson, pupils will have their preferred pronouns respected in the classroom, although children aged eight and above will have to use facilities in line with their biological sex. Final guidance on gender in schools will not be published until Sept 2026.
