Gender-questioning children guidance for schools: Legal comment

New draft guidance on how schools in England should support gender-questioning pupils has been published by the UK Government.

The Department for Education (DfE) has embedded this into its 2026 update to ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE), the established statutory safeguarding guidance that schools are expected to follow.

It focuses on issues that might arise when schools consider how best to support children who are questioning their gender, along with new sections on single-sex spaces and single-sex sports.

The draft guidance, published today (12 February), is under consultation until 22 April 2026.

Philip Wood, Principal Associate in the education team at UK and Ireland law firm Browne Jacobson, said: “On the surface, the draft guidance on gender questioning pupils is sensible and will provide more clarity for schools, but headteachers will still be required to make individual assessments on scenarios as and when they arise. 

“On many of the practical issues that schools face in this area, the draft guidance points to existing legal provisions, such as in the use of single-sex toilets and changing facilities. It says that to comply with their statutory duties, schools and colleges should not make exceptions to those legal provisions but also recognises the importance of accommodating the needs of gender-questioning children by providing alternative arrangements. 

“However, there is still potential for this guidance to change in future. It remains a contentious area and may be subject to challenge in the courts.

“In a section on social transitioning, the draft guidance reflects the Cass Review into NHS gender identity services for children and the need for education providers to proceed with caution, especially for younger children. It offers points for consideration on social transitioning of pupils and makes clear that in the vast majority of cases, parents need to be involved but accepts there will be rare circumstances where that would constitute a greater risk to the child.  

“While this draft guidance will provide schools and trusts with greater clarity in relation to how to manage some of the challenging scenarios that can arise for them in supporting gender-questioning pupils, inevitably no guidance can answer every question. School leaders therefore must continue to consider the full context when making decisions affecting gender-questioning pupils and consider taking legal advice where appropriate.”