George White, inclusion lead and RE teacher at St Paul鈥檚 Catholic School, transitioned while starting a job at his childhood school. He tells Jess Staufenberg why openness about being transgender matters to him 鈥 and calls for clearer guidance from government It was a Tuesday night and George White was shopping for a suit to wear to a school interview the next day. After years of gender dysphoria he was transitioning from a woman to a man, and this would be his first school where he could be himself. He did the interview at St Paul鈥檚 Catholic school, an academy in Leicester, and bagged the job. Then it was back to his old school. 鈥淪o, one day I was Miss White, then I was Mr White, then I was Miss White again,鈥 he says with frank openness. 鈥淏ut that was fine, because I knew I was going back.鈥 White was moving partly because of an experience at a previous school, which he doesn鈥檛 wish to name, where two pupils had come out as transgender. 鈥淭he headteacher wrote this really accepting letter,鈥 smiles White. 鈥淏ut then there was a load of backlash from parents and from Catholic media. And I realised if I was going to stay, then that transition was going to be public.鈥 White had good reason to be cautious. have rocketed by 56 per cent in a year (to almost 156,000 offences in 2020-21). Meanwhile, schools like White鈥檚 have been left to tackle transphobic bullying and to support transgender students with only broad laws to guide them. For instance, the has just two paragraphs under 鈥淟GBT鈥: that schools 鈥渟hould ensure that the needs of all pupils are appropriately met鈥, comply with the Equality Act under which gender reassignment is a protected characteristic but also ensure their teaching is 鈥渟ensitive and age appropriate鈥. Schools are still awaiting guidance from the Department for Education on approaching issues around sex and gender which, according to then-education secretary Nadhim Zahawi in April, it is producing with the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The guidance should 鈥渁llow the frontline to feel that they have the backing and confidence of the department鈥, said Zahawi. And just this week, the DfE removed transgender rights charity Mermaids from its mental health resources for schools after the Charity Commission launched a compliance probe over safeguarding. The charity has said it is the target of a 鈥渃ynical attack鈥. All this means teachers such as White have developed inside a school system operating without clear guidance, even as social media has become more heated. With his year 11 class in 2020 Transitioning while a new RE teacher wasn鈥檛 always easy. But he speaks lightly and with great comic timing as he recounts what it鈥檚 been like. 鈥淲hen I started, I had only been on hormones for a month and I hadn鈥檛 had chest surgery,鈥 he begins. The school had reassured White he didn鈥檛 need to explain himself to staff or students. Although this was a supportive position, White finds being more transparent works better for him. 鈥淚f that was me now, I鈥檇 have wanted to be more open at the time. There was some tricky behaviour [from pupils], with questions like 鈥榓re you a man or a woman?鈥 I wasn鈥檛 sure what I was able to say.鈥 Catholic response White is also Catholic and has always worked in Catholic schools (his current employer is the St Thomas Aquinas Catholic multi academy trust), which must follow both DfE guidance and guidance from the Catholic Church. In a publication from the Catholic Education Service called鈥, transphobia isn鈥檛 specifically covered. But it does say 鈥渢eachers should not discuss their own sexual orientation鈥 which doesn鈥檛 seem quite in the spirit of openness White finds helpful. 鈥淭ransphobia is one of the obvious omissions from there, I think because it was released five years ago, and the Church was at a point where it didn鈥檛 know what to say. 鈥淚 presume what they鈥檙e trying to say is you don鈥檛 have to talk about it, it鈥檚 your private life. But there is that element of fear and it doesn鈥檛 necessarily allow for honesty.鈥 White led on a week of diversity and inclusion activities at school So, as well as waiting for government advice, Catholic schools are also waiting for 鈥渃lear guidance from the Catholic Church itself鈥, explains White. The Vatican City did release a paper called 鈥樷 in 2019. It calls for an 鈥渆nvironment of trust, calmness and openness鈥 in schools. But, it also says that 鈥淐atholic educators are called to go beyond all ideological reductionism or homologizing relativism by remaining faithful to their own gospel-based identity鈥. 鈥淚t would be helpful to have something from the government, because at the moment there鈥檚 confusion in terms of the legality of situations,鈥 says White. 鈥淗ence, teachers on the frontline end up having to deal with the issues of coming out.鈥 Right now, there鈥檚 confusion in terms of the legality of situations But 鈥渢here needs to be training too, not just a trickle-down document.鈥 Meanwhile, his own school altered its disciplinary processes in 2020 to better support all staff and pupils around transphobia. 鈥淥ne of the things you need to do is be very specific about what you鈥檙e talking about. If it鈥檚 about discriminatory language, that needs to be clearly labelled,鈥 explains White. First, offending students are kept behind after school for a conversation with the chaplain. If the incident happens again, the pupil will be suspended to reflect on their actions. 鈥淎 number of incidents had happened to me,鈥 says White. 鈥淚t became clear that, without explicit notions, the behaviour was very difficult to challenge.鈥 But White is clear that he has also been hugely supported by his Catholic colleagues, and by the Catholic social circles he is part of. He is the inclusion lead at his school, sits on the LGBT+ pastoral team at Nottingham diocese, and is a committee member at a charity providing support for LGBT Catholics, including teachers. White has contributed to books on inclusive teaching Openness and transparency When he treats his pupils with openness and transparency, they are more open and reflective too, he says. For instance, when the school was planning conversations around harmful sexual behaviours following the #MeToo and Everyone鈥檚 Invited movements, posters condemning the 鈥楤oys will be boys鈥 phrase were pinned up. 鈥淏ut some of the boys were upset and took them down, asking what it meant. This upset some of the girls,鈥 White continues. So, he talked to the pupils about his experiences when living as a woman, compared to his experiences living as a man, and opened up a discussion between the upset parties. 鈥淭hey listened to each other,鈥 he smiles. This spirit of openness has its roots in White鈥檚 own secondary school experience 鈥 at the very school he teaches at today. Staff put in 鈥渁 lot of time and effort鈥 as he struggled in adolescence. It inspired him into teaching later. 鈥淚 had so many teachers who stuck by me. I remember one, she was asking me questions and I wasn鈥檛 able to speak. She just sat on the floor with me for a long time.鈥 Similarly, White grew up in a family which has been accepting and supportive. He remembers switching the TV off to tell his parents and twin sister he was considering his gender identity. 鈥淭hey just said, 鈥榦k, we still love you鈥, and we put the telly back on,鈥 he laughs. 鈥淚 always knew they would love me.鈥 White and his twin sister Samantha as babies White reflects on how all this influenced him as a teacher. 鈥淐atholic schools are about educating the whole person. You do that by being emotionally honest, with boundaries. To teach the whole person, you need to be emotionally honest 鈥淥r to put it another way, as a child I couldn鈥檛 tell you who the Ofsted-outstanding teacher was. But I could tell you the ones who made me feel like a person. That is the mark of a good teacher.鈥 There is still a cloak of invisibility over transgender pupils and staff across the sector, however. Currently LGBT identities are not counted in pupil population or staff workforce data (now, just gender, ethnicity and age are recorded). But of course not all transgender individuals will want to be recognised as such. 鈥淚 know teachers who are 鈥榮tealth鈥 at school,鈥 explains White. 鈥淭hey like it that way.鈥 With his family one and a half years after coming out as trans Training and guidance needed Given these sensitive questions, government guidance and training on supporting transgender students and staff is needed more than ever. But what will it say? Many educators were concerned when former attorney general and now home secretary Suella Braverman said in May that schools can ignore pupil requests for pronoun or name changes 鈥 despite lawyers warning it could breach the Equality Act. It means we cannot assume the days of Section 28, which criminalised school staff 鈥減romoting homosexuality鈥 until 2003, could never return, says White. 鈥淚 think there鈥檚 an element of an implicit Section 28 in Suella Braverman鈥檚 comments. People find it a very significant challenge when there鈥檚 no real guidance.鈥 Above all, White is calling for nuance, whether about Catholicism or transgender people. 鈥淭he media often portrays one thing. But we need a sense of proportion. What we hear is so often not the case.鈥