Further & Higher Education

"At my first college the vice-principal was absolutely brilliant when I reported any transphobic bullying"

"I've had just random strangers giving me hassle. But one person just kept harassing me so I had to get the police involved on that. And the really annoying thing on that is both the university, well, while the police were really supportive, the university and students union couldn't give a toss. They said they'd do something about it but then didn't follow up. They even refused to hand over the CCTV tapes at one time."

The Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999 make gender reassignment discrimination and harassment unlawful in vocational education and training. This covers further and higher education courses. The Sex Discrimination (Amendment of Legislation) Regulations 2008 make gender reassignment discrimination and harassment unlawful in the provision of goods, facilities and services. This covers student union facilities and welfare services, university and college sports facilities, student accommodation services and various other kinds of university and college facilities, such as IT facilities.

Transgender people's experiences of studying at college or university can vary widely as the two quotes above from trans students demonstrate. Although  anti-discrimination legislation exists, in practice it is of key importance how proactive the university or college management is in implementing good practice in transgender equality and how supportive and trans-inclusive the student union is.

This section of the Scottish Transgender Alliance website highlights good practice guidance in some of the key areas concerning trans students. Most of the content in this Further and Higher Eduction Good Practice section has been written and collated by STA volunteer, Jess Dowson, who is the Trans and Intersex Welfare Officer 08/09 at Edinburgh University's BLOGS LGBTI Society. The Scottish Transgender Alliance is very grateful for the hard work Jess has put into creating this section of the website. This section contains the following sub-pages:

• Identity Documents, Registration and Certificates
• Student Accommodation
• Gender Neutral Toilet Campaign
• Trans Inclusion in Student Unions
• Student Welfare 
• Student Sports Clubs
• Responsibilities Check List