A PROPOSED replacement for schools’ guidance on supporting transgender and gender-questioning pupils is “politically driven” and fundamentally incompatible with Jersey’s safeguarding duties, the Education Minister has said. Deputy Rob Ward issued the strongly-worded statement following a proposition lodged by Deputy Sir Philip Bailhache earlier this week. Deputy Bailhache is proposing that current trans inclusion guidance be replaced with a document called: “Treating children as children: a safeguarding approach to trans-identifying children and adolescents in Jersey schools”. Responding little more than 24 hours later, the Education Minister raised “serious concerns about the proposition’s implications for safeguarding practice, professional integrity, and Jersey’s statutory frameworks”. By contrast, Deputy Ward said Deputy Bailhache’s proposition would “replace this professional guidance with a document not aligned with Jersey’s legislative frameworks, safeguarding principles, or children’s rights commitments”.