Northern Ireland’s Education Minister Paul Givan has announced that girls’ right to wear trousers in school will become legally binding from the 2027/28 academic year, with schools to be banned from prohibiting the choice under updated guidelines issued on 11 September 2026.
The guidelines are enforceable under the School Uniforms Act, which came into operation earlier this year. The Act is designed, according to the Department of Education, to help reduce the cost of school uniforms and ensure that affordability, comfort, practicality and sustainability are at the centre of school uniform policies.
Girls right to wear trousers extended to PE lessons
The new guidelines make clear that school uniform policies for 2027/28 onwards must include the option for girls to wear trousers throughout the school year, including for PE and Games. Givan said the change would also apply to physical education, and confirmed it would not take effect during the 2026/27 academic year in order to give schools time to update their uniform policies.
Announcing the decision on BBC Radio Ulster’s The Nolan Show, Givan said he did not require assembly approval to act. ‘I don’t need to go through the assembly to give effect to this,’ he said. ‘Today, I am taking that decision, that will be formally communicated, schools will be hearing from me, and as of the next academic year…schools will be required that this has to be available if it is requested upon.’
Year 13 pupil Connie Rogers, who is also president of the Secondary Students’ Union of Northern Ireland, welcomed the change. Rogers, 16, said she had been wearing trousers to school for a number of years. ‘Girls should be able to wear trousers’ if they want to, she said, adding that they ‘can be a lot warmer and more comfortable.’ She said she was particularly glad of them ‘especially in the winter months’, and described herself as ‘so happy that there’s now legislation that all girls will be able to’ wear them.
Assembly members accuse Givan of U-turn over school uniform policy
The announcement drew criticism from members of the Northern Ireland Assembly, with some accusing Givan of making a belated reversal on a commitment he could have delivered sooner.
Sinn Féin MLA Cathy Mason described the decision as a ‘welcome but embarrassing U-turn’. ‘This is an important win for girls and for all those who campaigned for this simple choice,’ she said. ‘The minister had the opportunity to guarantee this right in his own school uniforms legislation but failed to do so. It should not have required further legislation from the Education Committee to force movement on something so basic.’ Mason added that the girls’ right to wear trousers ‘should never have been controversial and it should not have taken this long’.
Alliance’s education spokesperson and chair of the Education Committee, Nick Mathison, also described the decision as a ‘U-turn’. ‘Substantial sums of public money have been spent on drafting legislation to fix his error of judgement,’ Mathison said, adding that Givan ‘could have avoided this with the stroke of a pen.’ He said the committee would carry out ‘full due diligence to guarantee the wording used in this update will ensure all girls are granted the right to wear trousers as part of their school uniform’.
Mathison also paid tribute to young campaigners, saying: ‘I want to thank all of the young campaigners who have been bravely raising their voices about this, and whose dedication will lead to seeing this wrong righted.’
Givan had previously said existing laws on school uniform already gave girls the legal authority to challenge their schools, but education committee members had called on him to go further. The updated guidelines, published on the Department of Education website, now place that requirement on a legally binding footing, reported by BBC News NI.
The guidelines stipulate that the option for girls to wear trousers must be included in all school uniform policies from 2027/28 onwards, with schools expected to hear formally from the minister in the coming period.
