Schools have been told they should give transgender pupils a cake to celebrate their “transition”, as experts warn that teachers must be trained to deal with an “explosion” of students who no longer identity with their sex.

Delegates at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers conference this week were told that changing attitudes have resulted in a "huge" surge in the number of transgender and non-binary people coming forward.

“Five years ago, hardly anyone in school or in university would come across a young trans person, but it’s changed substantially,” said Terry Reed, a campaigner for transsexual rights who co-founded the Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES).

She told teachers that they must send an “upbeat” message to pupils who no longer identify with their birth sex. She advised that schools should mark the transitioning of a transgender pupil with “celebratory” events such as marking the announcement of their new name with a cake, the Times Education Supplement reported.