Don’t call girls girls, advise gender neutral headmistresses

Jun 20, 2016 by

by John Bingham, Telegraph:

Whatever would Miss Jean Brodie have made of it? Teachers at girls’ schools should consider addressing their charges simply as “pupils” or “students” rather than girls, to be more inclusive to transgender children, leading headmistresses have suggested.

Caroline Jordan, president of the Girls’ Schools Association (GSA), said that, in some circumstances, staff should use gender-neutral language.

Some single-sex schools have already adopted more neutral language in situations such as assemblies and others are considering doing so, said Mrs Jordan, who is headmistress of Headington School in Oxford.

The choice of words is an important part of a “complex pastoral issue” increasingly faced by schools, she added.

Her remarks were echoed by Ena Harrop, head of City of London School for Girls, who said that her staff took a similar approach if there were transgender pupils in the audience.

Their intervention came after Gendered Intelligence, a group which runs “trans awareness training” sessions, was invited to address a GSA conference for head teachers. The group recommends avoiding terms such as “young ladies”.

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