Post-Cass will the Association of Educational Psychologists become seen as the Tavistock GIDS of "Social Transitioning"?!
Gender affirmative bias of the Association of Educational Psychologists based on 'Stonewall' advice!
In the wake of the recent release of the final Cass Report I was pleased to see that ‘holistic’ assessments of trans-identifying children were promoted. I was also pleased to see a recognition was made of the importance of the school environment was emphasised. However what was entirely lacking was any actual investigation of that environment being undertaken in relation to ‘identity politics’.
What this debate lacks in general is exposure of the notion that each school’s ‘named’ Educational Psychologist (EP) has significant status in offering advice to schools on this issue. However their professional body the Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP) is under heavy influence of gender ideologue charities such as ‘Stonewall’ and ‘Just Like Us’. The latter was quoted in the AEP’s feedback to the consultation on the DfE’s draft guidance “Gender Questioning Children” (GQC)
““We recommend schools DO NOT IMPLEMENT THIS DRAFT, non-statutory guidance. We encourage teachers to stand for inclusion, not exclusion”!”
So a bias towards gender-affirmative care is now potentially endemic in the advice EPs are passing on to schools if they follow their professional association’s advice. Yet they are key in the effective implementation of any project attempting to modify school culture, let alone this issue of transgenderism, loaded as it is with psychological content. The Cass review was given a lot of publicity but from the viewpoint of EP colleagues it is already doomed due to this lack of understanding of how influential EPs will be in the success or failure of such advice being taken seriously. Even more worryingly the same fate will befall the DfE’s final version of its guidance, referred to above! So both Cass and DfE's GQC guidance are effectively dead in the water given their psychological loading and the response schools are likely to get from their named EP, if following AEP guidance, when they require further advice.