Gender identity in Scottish Schools: What Scottish council education services are doing in 2026

 Using FOI research, ScotPag and Women’s Rights Network Scotland (WRNS) colleagues Carolyn Brown and Mary Howden, have written about their findings regarding gender ideology in Scottish schools in 2026. This is a follow up report to our 2024 report

What we found was that there was no data kept about children identifying as transgender. Yet what we also found was the application across all councils of the wholesale diktat from the Scottish Government that gender identity ideology should be embedded across the curriculum as stated in the Scottish Government guidance LGBT Inclusive Education (2024),

‘All local authority-run schools in Scotland are expected to implement LGBT inclusive education through Curriculum for Excellence in alignment with the national approach.’

Basically we found that the Scottish Government is driving wholesale, ideological indoctrination of children in our Scottish schools. Are parents and families aware? Were they consulted?

We also found that hardly any impact assessments were conducted, and a confused picture emerged regarding how parents were involved. Often it was stated by council education services that parents’ involvement was on a, ‘case- by-case- basis’. What does that actually mean? The report’s findings indicate a post code lottery for parental involvement and the real risk of parents being excluded from decision making regarding their children. Anecdotally we have various accounts from parents of exactly this happening to them.

There is clear evidence that schools are following guidance which states, wrongly, that social transitioning of children is appropriate. Teachers are ill-equipped to make such decisions, and it has been well-established that social transitioning of children is harmful and runs completely counter to all robust evidence and respected professional advice.

The Scottish Government is setting up council education services  and schools for a fall.

Read the full report here

Carolyn Brown, ScotPAG Convenor