Please Zir! Teachers told to adopt ‘non binary’ words
Staff urged to be more inclusive
‘Prejudice in society’
‘School notices were reviewed’
TEACHING staff across Scotland have been told to use ‘non binary pronouns’ to avoid hurting the feelings of transgender pupils and colleagues. The NASUWT union has issued advice to schools and colleges on how to become more inclusive of people who identify with anything in a range of gender options, rather that simply male or female.
The guide warns staff to avoid addressing colleagues as ‘ladies and gentlemen’ and to remember to use ‘non binary pronouns’ – even including ‘zie’, ‘zim’ and ‘zir’. Such terms have grown in popularity over the past five years among people who do not identify as either male or female.
The union tells staff that the adoption of the language is necessary to ensure that ‘gender nonconforming and non binary people are to feel comfortable in the workplace’.
The guide, entitled ‘Trans Equality in Schools and Colleges — Advice and Guidance for Teachers and Leaders’ claims that there are as many as ‘one teacher and several children in each school’ who identify as transgender or non binary.
The guide gives advice on how schools should navigate such issues as at what stage during their transition transgender teachers should be allowed to start using their target gender’s toilets, and what time off they may require for ‘medical appointments pertinent to their transition’.
The Scottish Trans Alliance, which works to protect the rights of transsexuals, welcomed the guidance, saying it would help protect teachers who often feel the need to ‘stay in the closet’.
In The Sunday Times, the group said it was ‘not acceptable for transgender people to be hounded out of the profession’ due to ‘high levels of prejudice in society’.
The guide, produced with the help of Dr Debbie Hayton, a transgender teacher from the Midlands, says that teachers should be aware of both transgender pupils and staff as well as those ‘who do not fit the gendernorms associated with either sex’.
It also covers issues on how to include ‘intersex’ teachers or pupils – those born without either female or male genitals.
The guidance highlighted the case of a female pupil at a girls’ school who decided she wanted to be called Jason and live as a boy. It states: ‘School notices were reviewed to avoid the use of such words as “girls” and “she”, and Jason received separate gender-appropriate letters from school.’
It also shared the thoughts of a pupil, named only as Barney, who described the support provided by his primary school when a close family member announced they were transgender.
‘My dad transitioned when I was ten,’ he wrote. ‘My school was very supportive. They provided counselling on what would change and what would stay the same.
‘It was reassuring to know it was normal and almost everything would stay the same within the family.’
In its foreword to the guide, the union wrote: ‘The NASUWT is committed to supporting trans teachers, pupils, and teachers with trans students in their classes.’
In 2009, a Scottish Government study estimated that there were around 10,000 transgender people in Scotland, of whom 6,000 had undergone a sex change.
Earlier this month, Police Scotland issued a formal apology for creating ‘disharmony’ among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) communities during Scotland’s largest Pride event in Glasgow.
Five arrests were made, including a 16-year-old boy and three transgender activists.
A Scottish government spokesman said: ‘Scotland is recognised as one of the most progressive countries in Europe on LGBTI rights; however there is more to do to tackle all forms of prejudice.’