Language in the classroom

The vexed question of how or what to refer to pupils at schools as has opened up again following Altrincham Girl's school decision to avoid referring to it's children as girls in what is a girls school and to use gender neutral language.
An awful lot has happened certainly around language since I left the school system and even as a Governor for a period at one least the retitling of 'Forms' for 'Year x' since the 1990's, the removal of the term Pupil and substitution of 'Student', a term I associate with those at 16+ college or University rather than say 8 year olds and yes we were always referred to as "Girls and Boys" in what was a co-ed school.
The reasoning preferred for all this is to be 'transgender friendly' and certainly personally I've no time for misgendering anyone but gender identity is a area that is complex and not the same as saying people are gender neutral although it is true some individuals may well feel 'non binary' and in principal I feel that ought to be respected.
Some as I can well recall from my junior and high school days feel very strongly about their identity and gender role as either boys or girls and to them while they would all agree they were 'children' the bigger thing to them is to be their gender  and if you were misgendered or assigned incorrectly you may well understand why it matters to them.
That's why I get a bit concerned how far we may take well intentioned attempts to make spaces inclusive we end up degendering for those who feel they are misgendered.
I don't feel in the context of an introduction say at an Assembly "Good Morning Children" is an issue although traditionalists prefer "Boys and Girls" to mirror "Ladies and Gentlemen" but when you suggest you cannot refer to a group of girls as 'girls' least it cause offence to any girls in girls school who may be questioning their gender identity in which by design doesn't admit nor allow boys to be and your school sign refers to 'girls' a few thoughts come to mind.
Firstly if hearing or seeing the term 'Girls' offends or intimidate you to that point perhaps being at an all girls school isn't really for you because at the very least you'd rather mix children of either traditional gender or non binary which is more likely at an co-ed school.
If you feel as a girl you're non-binary or especially a boy, then there is gender question about what you are doing where an essential criteria is to be that gender and where if you were to transition you couldn't stay. Does your right to be say non-binary mean it's right to deny your peers the right to called girls to include you?
Finally if you are transitioning as a boy to a girl, you may feel as good number have you'd rather be at an all girls school because you'd be away from boys and their all too real separate genderedness but how would it play to be at a girls school where being being referred to as the gender you now present as is discouraged by official policy and where you'll never be referred to collectively as girls?
To me it just this in the context of an all girl or boy school comes over as muddled and ill thought out especially when you still refer to yourself as a Girls School.

Caro's topical round up

Hello and welcome. This weeks entry coming from the patented Blogger scheduler because as those of you who have followed this blog and possibly may belong to 'Angels' know I do have a 'littles' side and that side of me is on a very much child-like vacation this week which being twenty-seventeen I can just come out and say that to you all.
There are couple of things I do want to talk a little about of which the first is I do welcome the consultation over the 2004 Gender Recognition Act and the noises coming from government making the process less intrusive because while that Act was a breakthrough at the time non the less it was still centred around a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, the sense in which you feel distress that your sex (aka your physical body) does not match your sense of Gender such as gender identity and gender role.
This was common associated with the process of transition -usually medical involving hormones and often surgery too to give you the legal identity of the gender you 'belonged' to and legal recourse during the process of transition in areas of civil and employment law.
I do feel moves that allow more for those who may not wish to go down the route (or perhaps cannot for variety of reasons) of medical transition should be able to get certification of being and wishing to be regarded in law as the gender they are with full legal rights.
The other thing is Periscope the Twitter app used by teens. 
I don't wish to sound like a boring groan up but I do question the idea of allowing a thirteen year old the ability to in effect broadcast 'anything' online with no transmission delay and patently limited by nature moderation especially when coupled to GPS information on exactly where they are. It's practically impossible to monitor in real time every user and there is worrying evidence of it being for inappropriate sexual contact and grooming by pedophiles who know exactly where to find them.
Let's face it. Would any of us be allowed to run a radio or tv channel as a young teen with NO person to pull the plug if either we did something wrong or a person we were interviewing got out of hand? No, we wouldn't - we wouldn't be allowed unsupervised airspace so just what are doing allowing this??? 

No room at the inn

Just a bit tired after battling with snow this morning but I thought I'd write this up as shot as I'm feeling right now while the idea is still fresh.
How much space do you think you might need to live in in 2013? Well I think we'd agree you need a place to prepare food in, a separate space for living and maybe studying in  and a bedroom perhaps.
Now ideally if you were to work from home you might have a requirement for dedicated work space.
Note so far in we've not mentioned children, carers or if you're like me with a physical disability our specific needs.
Why I am talking about this today is because the UK government, specifically the Department of Work and Pensions has brought in a measure of how much space people of working age who need help to pay rent for properties owned by Social Housing Providers alone should be allowed. Part of the reason given is they believe too many people are in property that is 'too big' while others who may need it are left waiting.
Astonishingly, the one portion of the population who are more likely to living in accommodation bigger than their needs - single elderly people remaining in property allocated when they themselves had children who have left - are excluded presumably not to lose the older vote.
The chief problem with the policy is that in Great Britain, very few Social Housing projects did build property of two bedroom or smaller as the focus was the 'nuclear family' of 2 adults and 2.4 children and most private property isn't either. The main provider of the small amount of smaller properties are Private Landlords who do (and are) charging significantly more per room which is subject to a financial cap for people who need help to pay for it.
The way this new policy is supposed to work is if you have more space you're said to require then you pay something like 14% per room extra unless you move, which will come from your regular income such as your wages if you're working or welfare benefits if you're not.
The reason you had help to pay the rent was precisely because you didn't have enough to pay for a place to live and you're expected to make it up when you find out there's nowhere smaller available!
Note this is also effects those in work too - so much for the supporting workers not shirkers mantra  the Tories had been peddling for the last 6 months - and although extra space had been belated recognized for families with disabled children and serving soldiers, no consideration is given to either separated people unable to afford to move out of a home so former partners are expect to share a single bedroom, those with sleep disorders are expected to sleep with those who don't (a recipe for a bad nights sleep and much edginess) and the needs of disabled adults with mobility problems and specialized equipment such as scooters, reclining beds, lifts etc.
Also ignored are the needs of children from split families who stay over a few days per week as part of continuing parental rights access programs.
It may not be good if one partner is living a life in a different gender and the other has issues with it (You're not dressing like that in MY bedroom).
The real solution would be to build more social housing for rent including smaller properties that would help the construction industry out rather than supporting private housing building and threatening to offer state backed mortgage guarantees to support private home ownership but then you know the Tories would only look after their interests didn't you?
Maybe they'll bring in a window tax to go with the bedroom one.

On gender transition

As some may know I'm very much in favour of equal opportunities, supporting those who challenge older stereotypes as well as supporting groups like Press For Change. 
In the last few days the American Psychiatric Association board of trustees approved the latest proposed revisions to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders otherwise known as DSM-5 to the effect that unlike previous guidance no longer places being Transgendered as a mental disorder.
Today I felt like talking about it.
There are and have been many definitions   of what Transgendered means so much so fallings out over them aren't exactly uncommon but the simplest is you feel an overwhelming urge from within to present socially in a gender role the opposite of what the social norm of someone with your anatomical appearance.
I can see how that can regarded as progress although you say if you yourself are Transgendered, well how do I argue I have a medical need for say re-assignment surgery?
I've always had a this take on it.
It's a language issue at the core. Mental Disorder to some equals mental health issue and you don't wish to be bracketed say with people who maybe deluded. I'd say it's a social/psychological issue stemming from other peoples refusal to allow you to be you.
In order to live you life as you, you don't have to go down the route of taking hormones or having body surgery although hormones apart from developing the breast tissue also have other effects such as mood and so on.
It's a step that takes you toward 'full participation' in the gender role you feel but it's not the whole of it. The whole of it is about your personality, how you project that out in that World that may not know what to expect and for male to females the whole of ones femininity.
Sometimes I feel some people obsess more around GRS as a procedure that has to be gone through rather than the cultivation and expression in their lives of their sense of self.