Interstate classrooms are looking to replace the use of the words 'girls' and 'boys' with gender inclusive language such as 'crew', a plan viewed by Tasmanian advocates as a way to support all students in their education.
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Leaked draft guidelines from the Northern Territory education department say that gendered language, such as 'girls and boys', isolates gender questioning or gender diverse children from classroom participation.
Instead of using the words girls and boys, it is reported that the NT guidelines suggest that teachers should refer to their students as 'class', 'people', 'everyone' or 'crew'.
They also suggest that schools should create non-gendered teams in sporting activities.
Working It Out chief executive Lynn Jarvis said she had not seen the guidelines but that it was a good conversation to have, as long as it took place in a safe and respectful way.
"Our culture is built on the idea that people fit neatly into boxes...gender is the primary box. We have decided as a culture that you can be a girl or a boy but history and society tells us that this is not the case. There is a lot of variety out there," she said.
"We are now struggling how to construct our world away from this notion, of just two boxes, to try to be more inclusive."
She said it was up to the education department to consider such policy in their own time.
A Tasmanian education department spokesperson said there are no current plans to replicate the changes under consideration in the Northern Territory.
They said that any proposed changes to guidelines in Tasmania would be led the department's LGBTIQ+ Working Group, with membership from education, Communities Tasmania, Independent and Catholic schools and community members.
"The department maintains a guideline for supporting sexual and gender diversity in schools and colleges...the Working Group strives to ensure that our Guidelines continue to meet the high standards already in place in our schools."
Ms Jarvis said the draft plans by the Northern Territory would have been made for educational reasons.
"I'd imagine that they have sat down and thought about what is the best way we could support the widest variety of young people in our schools and have come up with this as a strategy," she said.
"It is about asking the fundamental question 'what is the purpose of education' and how can we ensure the greatest number of young people get supported in that environment."
Regarding non-gendered sporting teams, Ms Jarvis said Working It Out would like to see as many kids as possible participate in sport and recreation.
"When people make these kinds of decisions it is usually everybody that benefits. It is not like gender diverse people are the only ones to benefit," she said.
"Encouraging gender inclusive sport is a good way to encourage more people, both boys and girls, to participate in sport. We know that making sport more gender neutral, or being less rigid around the rules of boys and girls, does help young people to participate."
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