Teacher sacked for refusing to treat pupil as boy explains reason ahead of court showdown
The teacher is set to take her case to court next week, claiming the school unfairly dismissed her.
A teacher that lost their job for refusing to treat an eight-year-old female as a boy will tell an employment tribunal that they had serious concerns for the welfare of the child involved.
She was told by the headteacher of the school where she works to heed the pupil’s wishes to “socially transition” in line with the guidance of LGBT charity Stonewall.
This meant calling the female a boy’s name and using male pronouns.
With the support of the parents, the child was permitted to wear a boy’s school uniform, use the boy’s lavatories and changing rooms.
However, the teacher raised the matter as a safeguarding issue on the premise that the child and school peers were endangered by the move both in the short and long term.
The teacher, who for legal reasons was referred to as Hannah, told the Mail on Sunday: “We hear a lot about protected characteristics – what about the right of a child to grow up?”
She added: “It’s heartbreaking”.
She went on to say that kids are being supported by teachers and schools to truly believe they are in the “wrong body”. She is taking a case against the primary school and Nottinghamshire County Council to court, claiming she was victimised for raising the issue and was unfairly dismissed in 2022.
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Legal proceedings begin in Nottingham on Tuesday. She claimed her dismissal, for wishing to insulate vulnerable children from harm, has wrecked her life and left facing the possibility of never being able to teach again.
She said that had enjoyed five happy years at the school with a spotless record. However, she pointed out that education is becoming “increasingly politicised”.
In 2021, the school took on training methods from Stonewall, which calls on teachers to “remove any unnecessarily gendered language” from the classroom.
Hannah told the publication that the tension around the transgender issue has created a culture of fear within schools.
She said: “Nobody is prepared to speak out or challenge decisions made without discussion”.
She now plies her trade in a sandwich shop “where we are more freely able to discuss these issues”.
She said: “Teachers are being bullied into not questioning trans-affirming policies when evidence shows that the actual result of the approach is to put the welfare of children at serious risk. I am determined to pursue justice.”
Andrea Williams, chief exec of the Christian Legal Centre, which is providing support to Hannah, said: “For years, parents and teachers who have raised safeguarding concerns over these issues have been ignored and disbelieved.”
