Labour's Education Secretary says boys MUST be allowed to 'experiment' and wear dresses at school

She published guidance earlier this month, which allows primary school children to change their gender at school as long as their teachers consult their parents.

Long-delayed, the framework states teachers should approach requests from children to transition their gender with “caution” and must consult parents, but ultimately accept a child’s request.

Schools are instructed to take account of any clinical advice received by the family and to involve parents unless there is a genuine safeguarding reason not to do so.

Speaking to LBC’s Nick Ferrari on Tuesday, Ms Phillipson said in primary schools, “We need to tread with a lot of care”.

Mr Ferrari further pressed the minister, who avoided his questioning about whether she would be comfortable with a five-year-old boy wanting to be referred to by a girl’s name.

She said: “If a boy wants to wear dresses, we should just, if we allow that to work.

“Children will experiment at different points, they will consider who they are.

“Just taking a watchful approach, not coming down too hard on that, actually reduces in what we see in terms of children moving towards a more medicalised model.

“I’ve been clear that anything in that space, unless there are very strong safeguarding reasons where a child is at risk of harm, parents should be involved in those important decisions.

Under the framework, pupils’ preferred pronouns should be adopted in the classroom.

It specifies children over the age of eight will be required to use toilets and changing rooms that correspond to their biological sex, with single-sex spaces, including overnight residential trips, staying as they are.

The guidance is backed by Baroness Cass, whose landmark review in 2024 stated children should not be rushed into gender transitioning as they may later regret it.

Dr Cass’s recommendations said families should be able to access the appropriate medical professionals when a primary school child wishes to socially transition to a different gender, concluding under-25s should receive “unhurried, holistic, therapeutic support”, with “life-changing” decisions properly considered in adulthood.

She said: “The updated guidance is practical and reflects the recommendations of my review, giving schools much-needed clarity on their legal duties so they can support children with confidence.”

During the interview on LBC, Ms Phillipson was also quizzed on how many days a week school staff should work.

She said staff who worked “pretty intensively” did not have to spend all weekdays in school.

However, she rejected calls from the National Education Union for teachers to work one day a week from home, emphasising schools must function on a five-day basis.

Ms Phillipson was asked: “A teacher can’t do a four-day week, can they?”

She replied: “If, for example, you’re a maths teacher, you might be able to work four days because you’re working pretty intensively in those four days. That’s not that you then have a day a week working from home, but sometimes people will have different patterns of work.”

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