Le woke: UK students go gender-neutral in French GCSE exams
THE use of gender-neutral terms in GCSE French lessons has triggered an international row.
Sixteen-year-old students at schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have been allowed to use genderneutral pronouns, nouns and adjectives in their writing and speaking exams in a scheme designed to make curricula more inclusive.
The change comes despite the “inclusive” terms rarely being used in France.
In French, all pronouns and nouns are either masculine or feminine and the written endings of adjectives and verbs must reflect the gender of the object or person in question.
Under so-called inclusive language, adopted by some Left-wing councils and universities, the French pronouns for “he” and “she”, normally “il” and “elle” are replaced by the newly coined hybrid word, “iel”, with “iels” as a new neutral plural.
Jean-Michel Blanquer, the former French education minister, called the new proposals “absurd”. He said: “The use of ‘iel’ does not correspond to any widespread usage among the French population.”
Exam board Pearson Edexcel’s specifications for 2026 French, Spanish and German GCSE exams contain a section on the use of “gendered language”, in guidance supported by controversial LGBT charity Stonewall.
Students are permitted to include alternative spellings and add combinations of full stops, asterisks, “x’s”, colons and underscores to words to express their gender-neutral identity.
The introduction of the gender-neutral pronoun to the French dictionary Le Robert in 2021 prompted outrage among traditionalists who accused the dictionary of pandering to “wokeism”.
Inclusive pronouns have been rejected by Emmanuel Macron, the French president, as well as the L’Académie française, the body tasked with preserving the purity of the language, which decreed in 2017 that the form was counterproductive to anti-discrimination and “harmful to the practice and comprehension of the French language”. Bernard Cerquiglini, an editor of the authoritative Larousse dictionary, called teaching students gender-neutral pronouns “nonsense”.
Now, the Pearson GCSE guides all contain a section on the “use of gendered language” where they state that in order to be inclusive, assessments will “include the vocabulary for ‘trans’ and ‘non-binary’”, and “recognise students’ use of new adjectival endings according to their preferred way of identifying”.
The guidance came out in 2024, but comes into force this year, with language exams taking place in June.
The marking approach risks making it easier for candidates speaking in
‘Schools have been quickly captured by gender ideology’
European languages, which have different verb endings for masculine, feminine or plural pronouns, meaning they have fewer endings to remember.
Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at Sex Matters, said: “It may seem baffling how quickly schools have been captured by gender ideology in recent years. One key reason is that Stonewall-linked external providers such as Pearson have promoted a pro-trans agenda to students, teachers and school leaders, often in material and resources parents were never expected to see.”
A Pearson spokesman said: “Gender-neutral pronouns are not required as part of Pearson Edexcel GCSE French, German, or Spanish. The specifications require students to learn and be assessed only on the standard masculine and feminine forms used in these languages. Our membership of Stonewall ended over two years ago.”
The Department for Education said: “Our expectations are clear: gender identity is an area of significant debate. Schools should not endorse any particular view or teach it as fact, including the idea all people have a gender identity.”