The Church of England’s draft guidance on bullying has been criticised over its use of terminology on gender and sexuality.
‘Flourishing for All’ is a set of guidance documents being published ahead of the brand new school yr in September. The guidance is for use across the Church of England’s 4,700 schools following a consultation running until the top of July.Â
It replaces the contentious ‘Valuing All God’s Children’, which has been in use in CofE schools since 2014.
The first document in ‘Flourishing for All’, ‘Guidance for stopping and tackling homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying’, was published earlier this month.
The latest guidance has been published to combat “homophobic, biphobic and transphobic (HBT) bullying” in schools.
It advises teachers to make use of “up-to-date” language on sexuality, sex and gender, and says they need to “challenge” using “outdated terms which not have a spot in our vocabulary”.
The document then refers schools to a glossary of “up-to-date” terms, including transgender, which it defines as “an umbrella term to explain people whose gender identity will not be similar to, or doesn’t sit comfortably with, the sex they were assigned at birth”.
Gender is described as “the cultural constructions related to being male/female or other gender categories, as distinguished from biological sex”.
Pronouns are explained as “the words we use to confer with people’s gender in conversation – for instance, ‘he’ or ‘she'”.
“Some people may prefer others to confer with them in gender-neutral language and use pronouns comparable to they/their,” the document reads.
Gender identity is “a way an individual could have of their very own gender, whether male, female or one other category, comparable to non-binary”.
Writing within the introduction to the guidance, the Bishop of Portsmouth, Jonathan Frost, said: “Bullying has no place in our schools; every child deserves to learn in an environment where they’re loved, supported, and revered.
“Our hope and prayer is that these resources will probably be utilized by schools across the country to enable such flourishing and be sure that every child, knowing they’re unique and made within the image of God, will find in our schools a secure environment where bullying of any kind will not be tolerated.”
The Church of England’s Chief Education Officer, Nigel Genders, added: “We are starting with anti-HBT bullying guidance because there may be a necessity in schools for updated guidance this autumn following the Government consultation and the publication of the Cass review.
“We hope these latest resources will help to support anti-bullying efforts in schools, ensuring dignity and fairness for all children, which reflects the Church of England’s vision for education.”
Responding to the guidance, Lucy Marsh of the Family Education Trust said, “It is amazingly concerning that the Church of England doesn’t recognise that biological sex is immutable.
“Sex will not be ‘assigned at birth,’ it is decided at conception and recorded at birth. These are biological, unchangeable facts.”
Christian Concern said that the Church of England “continues to stay in thrall to gender ideology” and that the brand new guidance “risks real Christian faith being wrongly branded as bullying”.
It is urging concerned parents to participate within the consultation before the deadline on 31 July.Â
“The document is infused with the assumption that a gender identity is real,” the organisation said.Â
“This is a false and harmful belief that faithful Christians shouldn’t endorse. It can also be out of step with the Government’s draft guidance on gender questioning children, which refers to this specific worldview as a highly contested ideology and warns of its effects in relation to social transitioning.”
A Church of England spokeperson said the guidance had been “informed by reputable existing sources, including Government Guidance, the Cass Review and the Church of England’s theologically informed Living in Love and Faith process”.
