Terms ‘boy’, ‘young man’ to stay at bayside private school

Parents have slammed an all-boys school’s “confusing” push to ban the use of male-specific terms saying it’s not inclusive of all students.

St Bede's College in Mentone Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

St Bede’s College has backflipped on its move to scrap gendered language such as ‘young man’ and ‘boy’ after parents and teachers lashed the school’s “confusing” advice on the issue.

The all boys secondary school in Mentone last week instructed staff to use the word ‘students’ in school communications with parents, instead of male-specific words, such as the school’s historic term ‘Beda Boy’ – which refers to current and former students.

Parents have told the Herald Sun that they only learned about the removal of gendered terms through the media, sparking confusion among the school community.

Principal Deb Frizza said the move followed consultation with all school staff on inclusion practices and that parents had been informed of the change.

But following what staff and parents have described as contradictory advice on how to refer to male students, Ms Frizza this week retracted plans to stop using male gendered words.

After the Herald Sun obtained the original letter in which principal Deb Frizza advised staff of the language change, the school issued a revised statement to parents, stating that “there will continue to be boys, young men and Beda Boys within our College community”.

Updated communications said that the words ‘boys’ and ‘young men’ would remain on the school’s website, despite initial calls for suggestions for alternative terms.

The original letter to staff said: “The use of the term ‘student’ rather than ‘young man’ or ‘boy’ can easily be made. I’m yet to find an alternative for ‘Beda Boy’, and given the history of this term, we would need to think carefully on any changes here”.

“Can I ask that we start to use gender-neutral language in our communications where possible? I know it can be challenging when communicating with the parents of senior students and calling them ‘children’, so if anyone has a better gender neutral term than this, please let me know.”

The terms ‘boy’ and ‘young man’ will continue to be used at St Bede’s.

One mother of a year 8 child at the school, who wished not to be named, told the Herald Sun that parents wanted all students to feel included at the college, but questioned why the longstanding phrase ‘Beda Boy’ had to be scrapped.

“We received two letters. This is even more confusing … we can be both inclusive of everyone and not have limitations on the language we use,” she said.

“They use those terms in fabulous ways. It’s uplifting and teaches them to be good men in the best sense of the word.

“Yes, we need to address these things and have more awareness, but there has been no discussion about it whatsoever.”

Lawyer Paul O’Halloran, a partner at Dentons, said it was a positive step for schools to make changes to be inclusive of all students, but they needed to tread carefully when updating policy or advice.

“The balancing act for schools is to ensure all students feel safe and respected and that the pendulum does not go so far in one direction that certain groups of students feel disproportionately affected,” he said.

“This will be an expectation of many parents, and it is consistent with the Victorian Child Safe Standards for schools to move away from hyper-masculine terms that reinforce unhelpful stereotypes.

“Under Victoria’s Equal Opportunity Act 2010, the term “gender identity” also means students who do identify with their designated sex at birth. It’s just as discriminatory to refuse to recognise someone’s identified gender as to refer to everyone as genderless.

It is understood St Bede’s will establish an internal task force with members of its wellbeing team and parents to navigate inclusion practices.