Scottish Union for Education – Newsletter No104
Themes: inclusion in women’s spaces, and what’s happening to American education
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This week we take a look at the weasel word inclusion, and a Scottish-based American writer assesses the changes that are being made to the American education system.
Last week a survey showed that the sense of national pride across the UK is collapsing, especially among the young. This, of course, is less a ‘youth’ creation but is likely to reflect the outlook of adults and perhaps especially ‘educators’, in the broadest sense of the term.
For anyone who has kept one eye open for the last 10 years, it has been hard not to notice how negatively Britain is represented by the very people who run our institutions. We need to decolonise our curricula, we academics and teachers are told – the assumption being that without this instruction we would be somehow promoting ‘white values’, whatever they are.
Over the last few weeks I have been talking in class about the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and about John Locke, the Englishman who wrote the most important pamphlet on tolerance, followed by another Englishman, John Stuart Mill, who wrote the most important book on liberty. These men are indeed white and may well have some attitudes that we would disagree with today, but they are also giants for anyone who cares about freedom and democracy.
English, Scottish and British history is, of course, littered with all sorts of negative incidents, and we should all learn from them. But it is also littered with some of the most incredible and important social, scientific, cultural and political achievements in human history.
As it happens, over the years it has been rare to find a student who knows about any of the individuals and examples I have mentioned. This is a terrible state of affairs and needs to change.
With that in mind, SUE is looking for a History Correspondent. This doesn’t mean you need to be an expert or even have experience of writing – the SUE editorial team is here to help with that. We are simply looking for someone who has an interest and passion for history who could provide an occasional or perhaps a monthly article, possibly based on the great work of History Reclaimed.
Our history, the good and the bad, is vitally important, and we hope to provide a resource for parents so that the cynicism of our times does not drag down the next generation of children. If you think this might be something you would be interested in, get in touch stuart.waiton@sue.scot
One of the ways that history is being rewritten today is through the language of ‘inclusion’. The term inclusion is another modern weasel word that tends to mean something rather more ideological than it sounds and is rarely inclusive to different ideas. In the US, we can see how it has been used to promote ‘social justice’ through the hundreds of millions of dollars used to fund counselling services for children. All done through the language of mental health and wellbeing, we discover that even counselling has been transformed into a cynical exercise that helps us all to ‘unpack our privilege’.
Inclusion comes packaged as part of diversity and equality (or equity) – what is known as DEI in the States and EDI over here.
We want to look into the equality, diversity and inclusion industry in Scottish education and are looking for examples of how this is being used, so if you are a teacher or lecturer who has come across this, get in touch. Next week, for example, as part of my inclusive education I will be doing my mandatory biannual unconscious bias training, so you can rest assured – I may have all sorts of dodgy views at the moment, but by next week my unconscious will have been retrained and all will be well in the world.
One recent story about EDI showed that part of the push for inclusion in universities has meant that universities are ‘queering’ courses to supposedly make them more welcoming for students identifying as transgender or non-binary. Meanwhile, up here in Scotland we have followed the case of Sandie Peggie, the nurse who questioned whether a biological male (transgender-identifying) doctor should be using the female changing room. That it takes a court case, a judge, and weeks of deliberation to sort this out is testament to the confused nature of ‘inclusion’ today.
Of course, we find that the equality and diversity policy in the Fife hospital involved means the transgender-identifying doctor had a ‘right’ to dress and undress in this woman’s space. No doubt this was to do with the ‘wellbeing’ of the man involved.
Interestingly, the Scottish Daily Express has come out and explained that it will be referring to Dr Beth Upton as a ‘man’. We have ‘accepted the biological reality at the heart of this intriguing case’, the Express explains.
This is good, but why has it taken this long to express the truth, and why must women face the indignity of men using women’s spaces and being called ‘she’ by the rest of the press? This is not ‘tolerance’; it is a forced and incorrect use of the English language and should stop.
At the same time, we find that opposition is growing to gender-neutral (i.e. mixed-sex) toilets being introduced in Scottish schools. One assumes the push to have these toilets is financial and ‘practical’ rather than simply because the education authorities have been captured by transgender ideology (although that is the case). But sometimes the word inclusive, for example, when it is followed by the word toilet, doesn’t sound like the best idea in the world.
For Women Scotland have done some excellent work on this topic, and if you want to have your say, get in touch with them or with us.
Finally, some bad and some good news. First, the bad, which is that the UK government has rejected calls for parents to know what children are being taught in schools. There was ‘no evidence of a widespread problem’ of inappropriate content, they asserted – to which many people have replied ‘there is, we’ve seen it’.
But on the positive side, a teacher in England has won her court case to speak freely online about her concerns with extreme sex education and transgender ideology being taught in her son’s primary school.
Unfortunately, this has taken six years, but now it means that part of the Equality Act defends manifestations of Christian faith opinions.
It’s a victory, but it is also a sign of the problem, as it should not be unelected individuals who decide these matters; indeed, I suspect John Stuart Mill would be scratching his head because tolerance and liberty are not and should not be handed to us and adjudicated by judges – they should be ours by right in a free, democratic society.
As Mill argued, liberty lies in the hearts of men and women, and when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can ever do much to help it.
SUE hopes this is one message that the current and future generations will once again come to understand and to be proud of, because the freedom to express your opinion, as every educationalist worth their salt should appreciate, is something that is well worth fighting for.
Stuart Waiton
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What’s happening to the American education system?
Dr Diane Rasmussen McAdie is the Commissioning Editor for Written Content and a Journalist for the independent media organisation UK Column, a member of the Scottish Union for Education’s Editorial Board, and a native-born American citizen. She is based in Edinburgh.
As I reported for UK Column News last month, since President Trump started his second term on 20 January, he has signed dozens of Executive Orders. In the US government’s checks and balances system, an Executive Order allows the President, who has ‘executive power’ as the head of the Executive Branch, to mandate how the federal government operates. The Legislative Branch, or Congress (consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives), makes the federal laws. The President eventually can approve or veto the laws. These separations of power are laid out in the Constitution.
Has Trump been overreaching his executive power given his unusually high number of Executive Orders signed within his first three weeks back in the Oval Office? Some people think so, especially his opponents, due to the wide-ranging nature of Executive Orders that are not directly related to the federal government’s operation, such as ‘Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship’, which ends birthright citizenship for children born on US soil to illegal immigrants. Another Order, which Trump voters were happy to see but Harris–Walz voters are still lamenting, is ‘Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity’. This one ended diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI; more frequently called EDI in the UK) programmes in the Executive Branch and orders ‘all agencies to enforce our longstanding civil-rights laws and to combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities’.
What Executive Orders has he enacted with respect to education, and which ones might be coming soon? It is an important question for Scottish education to consider, because American educational trends tend to eventually travel across to this side of the pond. Despite the complicated political and cultural situations that these actions are causing stateside currently, they give people like me, who believe in SUE’s slogan ‘Education Not Indoctrination’, hope for the educational future of Scottish children.
On 29 January, Trump signed ‘Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling’. Referring to the Executive Order ‘Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government’ for definitions, the ‘Ending Radical Indoctrination’ Order says in reference to school-based gender ideology and so-called ‘anti-racism’ propaganda in schools:
‘Imprinting anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false ideologies on our Nation’s children not only violates longstanding anti-discrimination civil rights law in many cases, but usurps basic parental authority. For example, steering students toward surgical and chemical mutilation without parental consent or involvement or allowing males access to private spaces designated for females may contravene Federal laws that protect parental rights […] Similarly, demanding acquiescence to “White Privilege” or “unconscious bias,” actually promotes racial discrimination and undermines national unity. My Administration will enforce the law to ensure that recipients of Federal funds providing K-12 education comply with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination in various contexts and protecting parental rights…’
Also on 29 January, he signed ‘Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families’. The Order condemns the same decrease in educational attainment for American children that we have seen for Scottish children. The Order therefore gives parents the opportunity of ‘choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children […] Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Education shall issue guidance regarding how States can use Federal formula funds to support K-12 educational choice initiatives.’
‘Keeping Education Accessible and Ending COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates in Schools’ was enacted on 14 February, and mandates that ‘discretionary Federal funds should not be used to directly or indirectly support or subsidize an educational service agency, State educational agency, local educational agency, elementary school, secondary school, or institution of higher education that requires students to have received a COVID-19 vaccination to attend any in-person education program’.
SUE’s supporters may agree with the essence of some or all of these Orders; they protect the rights of parents to make decisions about how their children are educated, what they are exposed to and when, and what happens to their developing bodies. On ending the Covid-19 vaccine mandate in schools, it seems the President is somewhat hypocritical here after leading Operation Warp Speed in 2020, which was the US Department of Defence programme that spearheaded the rapid development and distribution of the jabs.
If it is enacted, an Executive Order to break down the US Department of Education would have admittedly far-reaching implications. Democrats have spun this to imply that Trump doesn’t think American children should be educated, but this is not the reality. During his campaign, he said the Department has ‘radicals, zealots, and Marxists’, and that it is too large and therefore wasting taxpayers’ money. DEI staff within the Department have already been placed on paid leave under the direction of the ‘Ending Illegal Discrimination’ Order mentioned above. Elon Musk’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency is leading the charge on these actions.
In actuality, the Trump Administration says that downsizing or eliminating the Department will reduce wasteful spending. It could conceivably transfer ruling power over education to other federal government agencies, or even state and local governments. This is all speculation until the Order is written and signed.
Linda McMahon is Trump’s nominee for Education Secretary; she has not yet been confirmed. She served in his first Administration as the leader of the Small Business Administration. Linda’s father-in-law was in the wrestling business, and she and her husband founded the World Wrestling Entertainment company.
What is behind these sweeping changes? Some are pointing to Project 2025. Project 2025 is detailed in a 900-page document entitled Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that for decades has written a ‘blueprint’ for every incoming president, led its authorship. Whether or not a new president chooses to use it is a decision to be made. Trump has claimed no knowledge of Project 2025 previously, but it is interesting that many of its policy recommendations align quite well with Trump’s Executive Orders. Mandate for Leadership has a 44-page chapter about what the Heritage Foundation wants to see happen to the education system. The main points appear on the Project 2025 website:
Project 2025’s policy reforms would strengthen our education system by:
Expanding school choice, so all children have the option of a great education, regardless of zip code.
Promoting parents’ rights in public education so American schools serve parents, not the other way around.
Removing critical race theory and gender ideology curricula in every public school in the country.
Returning education control to state and local governments.
Shifting some functions of the Department of Education to other departments including Labor, Justice, and Commerce.
Whatever the motivations for the enacted and proposed changes to American education, it is certainly appealing to Trump’s so-called ‘base’ of supporters, while successfully angering the Democrats, with some arguing that learning will no longer take place in the United States. I know this from watching social media posts carefully as well as interacting with my Democrat-voting friends and colleagues.
As stated at the beginning of this article, these steps may sound like major improvements for SUE’s supporters and concerned parents across Scotland. The Scottish government’s recent adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which risks giving children many of the rights expected of adults. This could mean children being allowed, for example, to transition their ‘gender’ without telling their parents.
The Scottish government’s 2021 Supporting transgender young people in schools: guidance for Scottish schools instructs school staff to ‘not disclose the transgender identity history or any sensitive information about a transgender young person to anyone inside or outside the school, without considering the young person's view and what is in the best interests of the young person’ (p. 41).
Time for Inclusive Education works on behalf of the Scottish government to ‘address homophobic, biphobic and transphobic prejudice and bullying through education’, and it is the government’s expectation that TIE introduces ‘LGBT-inclusive’ education starting with Early Years curriculum such as ‘storybooks that feature same-sex parents’.
In Westminster, Labour’s Plan for Schools will mandate a required curriculum for all children, regardless of school type. It will also become much more difficult for parents to homeschool their children. It seems the plan is heading towards the state raising the country’s children, rather than their own parents.
SUE will continue to watch what happens in the American education system, and we will provide brief reports like this one as events unfold.
News round-up
A selection of the main stories with relevance to Scottish education in the press in recent weeks, by Simon Knight.
https://archive.is/X0AsH Alice Thomson, The future depends on Gen Z connecting. Britain’s ‘loneliest generation’ need our help escaping the strictures, some of them self-imposed, that make love so elusive 11/02/25
https://archive.is/9l9ka Mark McLaughlin, Children who identify as animals ‘should be shown empathy’. Guide funded by the Home Office assessed the risk of online exploitation among transgender or non-binary children, as well as ‘furries’ and ‘therians’ 10/02/25
https://archive.ph/2025.02.13-131710/https://www.scotsman.com/education/snp-warned-of-strong-opposition-to-law-change-on-gender-neutral-school-toilets-as-new-consultation-looms-4984333 Calum Ross, SNP faces 'strong opposition' to law change on gender neutral school toilets as consultation looms 12/02/25
https://archive.is/19M8x Douglas Murray, Pride in Britain? It’s history, 12/02/25
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/comment/scottish-express-referring-dr-beth-34670335 Ben Borland, Why the Scottish Express is referring to Dr Beth Upton as a 'man' in Fife nurse tribunal. Rather than referring to the transgender doctor as 'she' or constructing sentences so that he is only ever referred to as 'Dr Upton', we have accepted the biological reality at the heart of this intriguing case 13/02/25
Frank Furedi, What Happens When Moral Cowardice Trumps The Virtue Of Courage? There is no place for patriotism, national pride or the spirit of duty in a culture that has morally disarmed itself. 15/02/25
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/education/2025/02/katharine-birbalsingh-interview-destroy-our-schools-bridget-phillipson-academies Hannah Barnes, Katharine Birbalsingh: ‘They’re going to destroy our schools’. The outspoken headteacher believes Bridget Phillipson’s reforms are an attack on educational freedom. She is ready for the fight. 12/02/25
https://archive.is/Ab52s Susan Dalgety, How Sandie Peggie-Dr Beth Upton tribunal has revealed class divide at heart of gender debate. Gender identity theory is largely a middle-class pursuit. 15/02/25
https://archive.is/2025.02.16-155347/https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/24938492.no-wonder-devilish-bard-spooked-scots-education-chiefs/ Kevin McKenna, No wonder our devilish Bard has spooked Scots education chiefs
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/scots-councillor-faces-disciplinary-hearing-34695827 David Walker, Scots councillor claims he faces disciplinary hearing for calling non-binary child a boy. Alastair Redman, who is a former Scottish Tory councillor turned independent, is facing disciplinary action following a row about a school in Argyll and Bute. 18/02/25
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