Banning Sir and Miss is “completely unnecessary”, the Department for Education (DfE) has stated after a charity said that gender neutral terms should be used instead.
Government officials believe that axing “gendered terms” in a school setting is “inappropriate” and “should not be happening in our classrooms”.
It comes after The Telegraph revealed that teachers had been told that schools should be moving toward a “gender free model” in training funded by the National Education Union (NEU).
Dr Elly Barnes, chief executive of charity Educate & Celebrate, said terms such as “boys”, “girls”, “son” and “mother” should be replaced with the gender-neutral words “pupils”, “students”, “child” and “parent”.
In advice that would mark the end of Sir and Miss, she told the meeting of NEU members in the north west that gendered terms should be dispensed with and staff should be referred to as “teacher” or “headteacher” followed by their surname.
In clips of the training seen by The Telegraph, Dr Barnes further suggested that the categories of “male” and “female” be removed from school application forms and the box for gender should be “left open”.
She said that, alongside switching the terms “boys” and “girls” for “students”, schools should also be introducing “gender-free” uniforms, adding: “Don’t say a boy’s fit or a girl’s fit.”
Teachers were shown a list of alternative terms to use, such as “head pupil” instead of “head boy”, “headteacher” instead of “headmaster”, and “parent” rather than “mother”.
‘It should not be happening’
Dr Barnes also showed a “code of conduct” that she encouraged schools to have at reception and said if people did not agree with it they should not be allowed on to the premises.
The poster listed all the bullet points of characteristics protected under the Equalities Act apart from sex.
Educate & Celebrate, which has previously received funding from the DfE and has government contracts, has separately faced criticism for advising teachers that it is permissible not to tell parents if a pupil declares themselves to be transgender.
On Tuesday, a DfE spokeman said: “Banning gendered terms in the classroom is inappropriate and completely unnecessary. It should not be happening in our classrooms.”
Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, is understood to feel strongly about this.
The NEU last night appeared to distance itself from the training, pointing to the fact that it was organised by a regional committee.
A spokesman said: “An increasing number of teenagers are identifying as non-binary and education needs to respond to this – but the NEU does not believe that schools can or should adopt gender-neutral language across the board.
“This training came from an external provider and was organised locally. The NEU will review its contents to ensure it is consistent with our policies.”
