Exclusive: NASUWT, the teaching union, wrote to Jenny Gilruth to suggest that the Scottish Government delay changing its guidance which would ensure school toilets are single-sex.
Toilets at schools under construction and in planning will also need to be modified where possible.(Image: Getty Images)
A leading Scots teaching union has been blasted after privately lobbying against single-sex toilets in schools – and going against two court rulings. Back in 2025, councils were forced to amend their guidance as some educational establishments installed only gender neutral bathrooms – and none for boys and girls.
It formed part of the SNP Government stealthily bringing in gender self-identification within public bodies, despite it being blocked from becoming law by the Tory UK Government. Health boards, the Scottish Prison Service and Police Scotland all allowed people to self-id as another gender and use whatever facilities they wanted.
Parents in the Scottish Borders took their local authority to court after it only installed gender neutral toilets at the new Earlston Primary School. The council conceded that they had a legal obligation to provide male and female facilities at the Court of Session in Edinburgh in April, a few days after the Supreme Court ruling where judges unanimously ruled that a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law.
It has led to councils being forced to make costly changes to any schools where just gender neutral toilets were installed, with the Scottish Government also amending its toilet guidance for schools. It said that transgender pupils can no longer use “the facilities they feel most comfortable with”, as was previously the case, but schools were encouraged to offer gender-neutral facilities or access to disabled and staff toilets for the relatively small number of children affected.
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At least six schools across Scotland that previously offered only gender-neutral toilets also had to create single-sex facilities following a legal ruling. Schools in Scottish Borders, Shetland and Aberdeenshire had to change provision by adding separate bathrooms for boys and girls.
But NASUWT, which is a teachers union, emailed Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth to warn her about making these changes too early, i.e. before the EHRC officially released its new regulations. These are still a draft now due to the UK Government stalling it, but say that single-sex spaces can only be legally single-sex if they exclude those not born that sex.
Mike Corbett – NASUWT(Image: Daily Record)
In correspondence dating from last June, received through freedom of information legislation, Mike Corbett, NASUWT National Official for Scotland, wrote: “I am at an NASUWT National Executive meeting in Birmingham today and have been advised that the Department for Education has this week advised that no school in England should be taking any decisions at the moment (e.g. around toilet access) based on the EHRC ‘guidance’.
“To be clear, this was not a written public statement but an assurance given in a meeting with NASUWT, which we are sharing with our members and employers down there. This contrasts with what is happening in Scotland as we already have reports of some schools (especially in the Primary sector) essentially banning trans kids from some toilets.”
The Scottish Tories blasted NASUWT for its comments. Scottish Conservative deputy chairwoman Pam Gosal MSP told the Scottish Daily Express: “It’s appalling that out-of-touch union barons are lobbying against single-sex bathrooms in schools.
“It’s just basic common sense that girls shouldn’t have to share a toilet with biological males. But Labour and the SNP’s reckless gender ideology is putting the safety, dignity and privacy of female pupils at risk. We will continue to demand that both of Scotland’s governments follow the Supreme Court’s crystal clear ruling.”
NASUWT was approached for comment.
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