A teacher has been fired for refusing to use “he/him” pronouns requested by her biologically female eight-year-old student.
After her sacking, the teacher warned that she would appear before an employment tribunal this month, saying that she had serious concerns for the young boy’s welfare.
The teacher has launched a case against the primary school and Nottinghamshire County Council, criticising the organisations for her unfair dismissal in 2022.
According to the staff member, she was victimised for whistleblowing and wanting to protect vulnerable children from harm.
Following Stonewall guidelines, the largest LGBTQIA+ charity in the UK that advocates for equal rights, the school’s headteacher ordered the teacher to abide by the “socially transition” rules regarding children who wish to change their pronouns.
The student, whose requested pronouns are he/him, has been supported by his parents and permitted to wear a school uniform meant for male pupils.
The child has also been allowed to use the boys’ lavatories and changing rooms.
The teacher, whose identity has remained anonymous for legal reasons, was asked to use the pronouns in an attempt to keep the gender change a secret from other classmates.
Concerned about the child’s wellbeing, the teacher said that she raised the matter as a safeguarding issue, claiming that the change in pronouns endangered the child and his classmates in the short and long term.
Speaking to The Mail, the teacher explained: “We hear a lot about protected characteristics – what about the right of a child to grow up?”
“It is heartbreaking.”
According to the KF and The Washington Post’s 2024 Trans Survey, which interviewed 515 transgender adults, a staggering 66 per cent of the respondents said that they started to understand that their gender was different to the sex that they were assigned at birth before the age of 18.
One in three, 32 per cent, of the trans adults said that they began to understand when they were ten years old or younger.
The teacher went on to criticise the school and her colleagues for supporting adolescent pupils who feel that they have been born in the “wrong body.”
“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,” she added.
“I am determined to pursue justice.”
The staff member’s life and mental health were severely affected by the sacking, she said, claiming that the situation could result in her never being able to teach again.
During her five-year stint as a teacher at the primary school, the teacher said that she had an unblemished reputation as a primary school teacher and mostly enjoyed her job role.
However, it is a shame how “education became increasingly politicised,” she added.
While the Department for Education declined to comment on individual cases, a spokesperson said: “We expect schools to carefully consider their approach to these matters, to ensure that they take the right decision from the point of view of safeguarding children, accounting for parents’ views and those of medical experts where relevant.”
Stonewell’s guidelines, which encourage staff members to “remove any unnecessarily gendered language” from classrooms to make non-binary children feel like less of an outcast, are controversial amongst parents and education staff members.
The woke culture and debates surrounding transgender and non-binary rights have become a taboo topic in schools, according to the teacher.
“Nobody is prepared to speak out or challenge decisions made without discussion,” she said.
Two years after her firing, the teacher revealed that she has found new employment in a sandwich shop, “where we are more freely able to discuss these issues.”
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which has publicly shared its support for the shamed teacher, said: “For years, parents and teachers who have raised safeguarding concerns over these issues have been ignored and disbelieved.”
