‘Treated as a criminal!’ Teacher sacked after refusing to call girl, 8, by male pronouns

A Christian teacher is suing a county council after she was sacked for refusing to use male pronouns to refer to an eight-year-old female pupil who wanted to “socially transition”.

The teacher claimed that the school has put the child “on a path to self-destruction” after expressing concern of the school’s safeguarding of the girl.

The teacher, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is taking the council to court on grounds of unfair dismissal, religious discrimination, and victimisation for whistleblowing.

She had claimed that she had “been treated as a criminal for raising genuine safeguarding concerns”.

Backed by advocacy group Christian Concern, the teacher – who is referred to as A – revealed in her witness statement that in 2021 the school informed her that a child born female would be attending her class and should be referred to with a male name, which made the teacher feel uncomfortable.

She claimed much of the literature provided to staff was “trans-affirming” and “promoted gender ideology over scientific fact”, driven by LGBTQ campaign group Stonewall.

The teacher believed using male pronouns would cause “irreversible harm” to the child, adding that the school’s demands were “coercive and disrespectful”.

A decided to speak up after researching the issue, including watching videos of detransitioners who regretted their choices.

The teacher shared her concerns with the head teacher, who insisted she must use Child X’s preferred pronouns as requested by the parents.

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After refusing to comply, Child X was moved to a different class and the teacher was suspended later that month.

A disciplinary investigation followed, which sought to examine the teacher’s refusal to agree to what was described as a “reasonable request”.

Although she had suggested using a gender-neutral name for the child as a compromise, she claimed that this attempt to resolve the situation was ignored by the school.

After agreeing not to discuss the situation, she was allowed to return to work the following month.

In her witness statement, the teacher acknowledged that gender dysphoria was “a real problem for some people” but she maintained that “we should have the humility to put God-given reality first and our own feelings second”.

The teacher explained she felt the school was “encouraging Child X on a path to self-destruction”, as the teacher continued to feel discomfort surrounding the situation even after she returned to work.

Feeling defeated, the teacher wrote a safeguarding letter to the school’s governing body – although she said that she believed her concerns were ignored at this level as well.

A then decided to report the issue to Nottinghamshire county council which concluded that it was satisfied with the school’s actions.

After involving lawyers and pursuing legal action, the school raised concerns that the teacher had broken confidentiality and accused her of sharing information with a third party.

This led to A being suspended again and subsequently dismissed from her position, as well as reported to multiple regulatory bodies – including the Teaching Regulation Agency, the Disclosure and Barring Service and the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The tribunal heard that A had accessed information about Child X on CPOMS, an online school system which logs and monitors child protection and pupil welfare information.

The teacher explained she did this out of “professional curiosity” because she had heard the child’s behaviour was poor.