Transgender awareness in child and family social work education

In January 2016 the Women and Equalities Committee published a report on Transgender Equality. In this report evidence was identified that suggested transgender people experience significant levels of inequality across a wide range of policy areas. This included inequality in the provision of public services, where evidence of discrimination and transphobia were identified within schools, social services, the NHS, prisons and probation services, and the police.

In July 2016 the Government submitted a response to the Women and Equalities Committee signposting a commitment to ensuring all public sector professionals receive adequate training on gender identity and gender variance. This commitment was framed in recognition of the diversity of the public sector workforce, and the need to assess the level, depth and frequency of training required in each profession separately. Within this context this study was commissioned by the Department for Education to ascertain the adequacy and consistency of child and family social worker education in regard to gender identity and gender variance, in order to provide evidence as to whether additional training materials should be made available in the future.

• Read blog on this report here
• Listen to podcast here
• Read press release