A teacher has been banned from his profession for misgendering a pupil in a case thought to be the first of its kind in the UK.
Joshua Sutcliffe was struck off by the Teacher’s Regulation Authority (TRA) for “unprofessional conduct” and “bringing the profession into disrepute’ over refusing to use a pupil’s preferred pronouns.
A panel ruled that he had failed to treat the transgender student, who identified as a male, with “dignity and respect” and was handed a prohibition order following a seven-day hearing.
It means he is banned from teaching indefinitely and cannot work in any school, sixth form college, or children’s home in England. The order will remain in place until 2025, when it can be reviewed.
The maths teacher, supported by the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), is appealing the decision.
In a statement, issued via CLC on Monday, the 33-year-old said he was “devastated” by the panel’s decision
“Based on this ruling, every teacher is at risk if they share their beliefs and views in the classroom,” he said.
“If a teacher had shown or recommended a video from a liberal YouTube platform, would they have been treated as I have? I believe affirming children who is in gender distress in the classroom is psychologically damaging for them.
Gay Marriage
The teacher, who has strong Christian beliefs, made headlines in 2017 after taking legal action against The Cherwell School in Oxford, after he was suspended and eventually dismissed for gross misconduct for “misgendering” a student.After being notified that the pupil wanted to be referred to by a set of preferred pronouns, Sutcliffe decided to call the child by name only.
According to the CLC, he had been given no warning or guidelines on how to deal with the issue.
He said he’d received no training other than a brief presentation from Stonewall, an organisation the Department for Education no longer recommends.
He claims that as soon as he voiced his Christian beliefs at the school he became “a marked man” where “every part of his public and private life” came under scrutiny, CLC said.
Sutcliffe made the decision to leave the school and took up a teaching post at St Aloysius’ College, North London. After a year in the school, he felt forced to resign over Christian views he posted on his personal YouTube channel which critiqued Islam.
Despite legal issues between Sutcliffe and both schools being settled, he was later pursued and investigated by the regulatory body,
The TRA investigation culminated in a professional conduct panel hearing into a series of allegations.
As well as accusations of refusing to use a pupils’ preferred pronouns, he was convicted of other allegations that included stating to a student that did not believe in gay marriage.
Further, he was convicted of failing to provide an alternative viewpoint to students when he allegedly showed a video on masculinity by leading global conservative non-profit channel, Prager-U.
He was acquitted of a number of allegations including an allegation that he was guilty of unprofessional conduct because he uploaded a YouTube video critiquing Islam.
Rapped Over TV Appearance
The TRA panel said in its recommendations to the Secretary of State (SoS) that Sutcliffe had shown the pupil “a lack of dignity and respect” by refusing to use the pronouns they asked to be referred to.Evidence given by pupils led to investigators also ruling that Sutcliffe had repeatedly misgendered the young person, which he has always denied.
It was also accepted that the teacher misgendered the pupil in the classroom when he was alleged to have said, “I borrowed her calculator.”
The panel concluded: “Given the evidence of the pupils that Mr. Sutcliffe had failed to use Pupil A’s pronoun on various occasions, and Mr. Sutcliffe’s own admission that he had failed to use Pupil A’s pronoun on one occasion, the panel found that it was more probable than not that Mr. Sutcliffe had failed to use Pupil A’s preferred pronoun in the classroom during teaching on one or more occasions.”
“The panel, therefore, concluded on balance that by failing to use Pupil A’s preferred pronouns, Mr. Sutcliffe had failed to uphold Pupil A’s dignity and respect and failed to safeguard Pupil A’s wellbeing.”
The panel also ruled that the maths teacher had failed in his safeguarding duty to “Pupil A” by appearing on ITV’s “This Morning” to discuss his story.
In a statement, the CLC said the ruling contradicts a recent report by the Policy Exchange into the extent of transgender ideology in UK schools.
The report added, “A generation of children are being let down, because well-established safeguarding standards are being compromised.”
Parent Backing
The panel and the SoS have made the ruling despite the imminent publication of new government guidelines on transgender issues in schools.In January, the Telegraph reported that the guidelines are likely to advise teachers and schools that allowing pupils to “socially transition” and use preferred pronouns contrary to their sex, can cause “major psychological harm.”
The ruling against Sutcliffe is also at odds with Education Secretary Gillian Keegan’s recent defence of a teacher at a private school who was accused of “misgendering” after saying ‘good afternoon girls’ at an all-girls school, the CLC said.
The panel also rejected expert evidence from Christian theologian and Sex Matters executive director Maya Forstater, and backing from parents and pupils taught by Sutcliffe.
According to CLC, one parent, whose daughter had been tutored by the maths teacher, told the panel: “Joshua was very good at his job and teaching. Patient, kind and considerate, he was respectful and good at explaining things.”
The teacher said he has been “mercilessly punished” for refusing to show the panel any remorse over his actions.
“I have been bullied and pursued and have had every part of my life scrutinised for expressing my Christian faith and biological truth,” he said.
“This decision is putting my family and I at risk. I have a young son and everything that is happening is affecting him.”
CLC Chief Executive Andrea Williams described the case as a “tipping point.”
“The government needs to step in and restore some sanity into the teaching profession,” she said in a statement.
“Similar action needs to be taken regarding the TRA.
“I am very concerned by the way regulatory bodies are now punishing Christian teachers simply for stating the truth.”
Williams added: “The TRA has targeted an exceptional teacher because his Christian beliefs do not fall in line with the new LGBTQ moral code which will not tolerate any dissent. This is deeply illiberal.”
