Gender Questioning Children guidance
What is gender questioning?
Gender questioning is when someone is unsure about their gender or feels that the gender they were assigned at birth doesn’t fully match who they are. It’s a personal and often evolving experience and can be fully recognised at any age.
Legal context for children under 18
In England, the law defines a young person’s gender as their biological sex assigned at birth. Under the Equality Act 2010, “sex” refers to biological sex for legal purposes. Children under 18 cannot obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) to legally change their gender. However, they can still be protected under the 2010 Equality Act’s characteristic of gender reassignment. Regardless of legal definitions, exploring one’s gender is a real experience for many young people.
What is the guidance for gender questioning children?
The law is in place to protect, but society also has a responsibility to support and uplift people. In December 2023, The Department of Education (DfE) published non-statutory guidance for the first time to help schools support gender questioning young people in practical ways. This guidance is currently under consultation, with a final version expected in the second half of 2025.
The draft Gender Questioning Children guidance offers practical advice for schools on how to respond to young people who are questioning their gender. It focuses on how a school should respond to a young person who is questioning their gender, including guidance on how to engage with parents, interaction with safeguarding duties, data requirements and access to single-sex spaces. The guidance explains how schools should handle requests for changes to a young person’s name, pronouns and uniform.
Key points from the guidance:
- Prioritise safety and well-being of all students
- Involving parents in decision-making
- Support each young person individually, respecting their experiences
- Create inclusive environments where students can explore their gender identity safely
Unlike the RHSE guidance, the gender questioning guidance is non-statutory (not legally required). When the final guidance is introduced, many schools may follow it to ensure consistent and supportive care for gender questioning students.
Does the Gender Questioning Children guidance form part of the RHSE guidance?
The Gender Questioning Children guidance is separate from the RHSE guidance, though both are published by the Department for Education. The statutory RHSE guidance focuses on age-appropriate teaching of relationships, health and sex. The non-statutory Gender Questioning Children guidance provides specific advice for schools on supporting gender questioning students.
Stonewall and the Gender Questioning Children guidance
Stonewall played an important role in responding to the DfE’s draft guidance on gender questioning children, published in December 2023.
Stonewall responded to the draft, saying:
- It lacked practical advice on inclusive practices in schools and colleges
- There should be more of an emphasis on trans and gender-diverse young people’s existence, and their wellbeing must be prioritised
- Inclusion requires that young people can be themselves, with staff trained and able to support them
- It was written from a narrow perspective, without input from trans youth or inclusive educators
The draft guidance received heavy criticism from across the Education and LGBTQ+ sector. The charities Barnardo’s, NSPCC, and The Children’s Society highlighted in their response that there had been no engagement with young people during the development of the guidance. It was also reported that government lawyers raised significant concerns that some parts of the guidance were “misleading or inaccurate” around equality laws and that certain aspects could put the Government and schools at “high risk of a successful legal challenge”. The charities urged the government to create guidance that better protects young people’s rights, safety and inclusion.
Stonewall continues to advocate for a final version that reflects best practice and puts the needs of gender questioning young people at the forefront.
What has the Labour Government said about the guidance?
Ministers have repeatedly insisted that they do intend to publish the Gender Questioning Children guidance. Speaking in Parliament, in Spring 2025 Minister for Women and Equalities Bridget Phillipson said:
“Young people need support and protection. That is why we will also publish revised gender-questioning guidance for our schools this year to provide that necessary further clarity.”
In July 2025, The Department for Education updated the safeguarding guidance “Keeping Children Safe in Education”. Where that guidance discusses LGBTQ+ students, there is an additional note which says, “we expect to publish the revised guidance on gender questioning children soon. Once published, we will signpost to this guidance in KCSIE 2025.”
