According to the new education guidebook in Australia, teachers should avoid using the term ‘boys and girls’ as well as referring to things as ‘normal’ to improve inclusion at school.
The proposed guide also urges staff to teach ‘superdiversity’ to promote the acceptance of different cultures and to stop using the term ‘other’.
The book titled “Building Better Schools with Evidence-Based Policy” also says that teachers can promote inclusion in the classroom if they ‘actively embrace diversity’.
“An associated policy should be used to bring the school community together, drawing on the energy, ideas, and capacities of the school community, even though the policy is likely to be demanding and far-reaching,” the book reads.
Additionally, the phrase “English as a second language” should be replaced by the term “emergent – bilingual” to give students who speak different languages more confidence.
The book also suggests that the term ‘boys and girls’ should also be removed in schools.
Author Alan Reid defended the concepts he raised and said that teachers should encourage the students to debate the suggestions in his book.
“A school can also listen and challenge particular viewpoints, and make clear what stays at the school gate, so to speak, given what the social contract on education is,” Reid told The Daily Telegraph.
The suggestions come weeks after schools in Melbourne are being encouraged to use gender-neutral pronouns and not use gendered terms like ‘mom and dad’ in favour of ‘parent’ as part of a campaign to improve inclusivity for LGBTQI+ students.
Unisex bathrooms, flying of rainbow flags and non-gendered sporting teams are also recommended to improve inclusivity to students.
Some schools in Australia are also being urged to stop teachers and students from using words like ‘mom,’ ‘dad’ and ‘boyfriend’ in a controversial effort to ban gendered words for good.