The Royal College of Pediatrics & Child Health is calling primary schools to teach children the meanings of the terms lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.
In light of Transgender Awareness Week, Dr Max Davie says that children need to be treated like “intelligent beings” and be educated on LGBTQ+ issues. But from what age and how?
Increased tolerance, acceptance and kindness is at the heart of Educate & Celebrate, a charity which implements LGBTQ+ programmes in over 300 schools across the UK.
It helps teachers, pupils and parents understand how being LGBTQ+ is a social norm, through the curriculum, community and environmental changes within schools.
Dr Anna Carlile, a senior lecturer in Education, Culture and Society at Goldsmiths University and part of Educate & Celebrate, talks of the importance of making children aware of relationships which do not fit the hetero-normative mould.
Children need to recognise parts of themselves around the school, whether it’s on a poster or a character in an English book, a promotion of acceptance of all kinds of relationships and ways of being, need to be supported.
Critics of the programmes say that the worry of teaching children as young as three about gender-related issues could cause unnecessary confusion at such a young age.
But mother of twins, Hannah Strickland, hits back, saying that the issue is being over-complicated. Children take things for face value and if they like what they see or feel a certain way, then they’ll just say.
The crux of the debate lies at, not whether young people should be taught about LGBTQ+ issues, but at what age and how. Experts say that it should be fed into a child’s upbringing right from the start and Educate & Celebrate say that there is no point just doing one PSHE class at the start of term.
LGBTQ+ education should become part of school life in every sense, in order for it to have long-lasting effect and change the way children interact with one another.
Submitted Article
Headline
Short Headline
Standfirst
Published Article
HeadlineTeach children the meaning of LGBTQ+ in primary schools, say medical experts
Short HeadlineTeach LGBTQ+ in schools, medical experts say
StandfirstEducational experts say that the curriculum, community and school environment need to change to help teach LGBTQ+ values.
The Royal College of Pediatrics & Child Health is calling primary schools to teach children the meanings of the terms lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.
In light of Transgender Awareness Week, Dr Max Davie says that children need to be treated like “intelligent beings” and be educated on LGBTQ+ issues. But from what age and how?
Increased tolerance, acceptance and kindness is at the heart of Educate & Celebrate, a charity which implements LGBTQ+ programmes in over 300 schools across the UK.
It helps teachers, pupils and parents understand how being LGBTQ+ is a social norm, through the curriculum, community and environmental changes within schools.
Dr Anna Carlile, a senior lecturer in Education, Culture and Society at Goldsmiths University and part of Educate & Celebrate, talks of the importance of making children aware of relationships which do not fit the hetero-normative mould.
Children need to recognise parts of themselves around the school, whether it’s on a poster or a character in an English book, a promotion of acceptance of all kinds of relationships and ways of being, need to be supported.
Critics of the programmes say that the worry of teaching children as young as three about gender-related issues could cause unnecessary confusion at such a young age.
But mother of twins, Hannah Strickland, hits back, saying that the issue is being over-complicated. Children take things for face value and if they like what they see or feel a certain way, then they’ll just say.
The crux of the debate lies at, not whether young people should be taught about LGBTQ+ issues, but at what age and how. Experts say that it should be fed into a child’s upbringing right from the start and Educate & Celebrate say that there is no point just doing one PSHE class at the start of term.
LGBTQ+ education should become part of school life in every sense, in order for it to have long-lasting effect and change the way children interact with one another.
