A teacher has been suspended after misgendering a transgender pupil by referring to the student as a girl rather than a boy.
Joshua Sutcliffe, a maths teacher at a state secondary school in Oxfordshire, said the complaint arrived after he unintentionally said “well done girls” to the boy and another student during a lesson.
The 27-year-old, who is faced with a disciplinary hearing, said he refused to use the pronouns “he” or “him” when referring to the student and instead chose to use the pupil’s adopted male first name for professional reasons.
Mr Sutcliffe, who is a pastor at an evangelical church, said his Christian beliefs meant he did not think there was anything wrong with referring to someone who was born female as a girl.
According to Mr Sutcliffe, he was not provided with instructions on how he should be referring to the pupil.
Mr Sutcliffe told The Mail on Sunday – who first reported the case – he was suspended several weeks after being called to the head teacher’s office after a parents evening.
“It was surreal, Kafkaesque. I said it was only one incident, for which I had apologised, but [the headteacher] insisted the investigation would go ahead,” he told the publication.
“While the suggestion that gender is fluid conflicts sharply with my Christian beliefs, I recognise my responsibility as a teacher and a Christian to treat each of my pupils with respect."
He added: “I have balanced these factors by using the pupil’s chosen name, and although I did not intentionally refer to the pupil as a 'girl', I do not believe it is unreasonable to call someone a girl if they were born a girl.”
The school said it was investigating complaints from the student’s mother of several examples of “misgendering” their son and allegedly issuing him with a disproportionate number of detentions for not behaving well but this was not substantiated during the school’s investigation.
The mother has accused Mr Sutcliffe of talking about religious issues during maths lessons but he denies he has done so.
The school’s head teacher has said it is not appropriate to comment on confidential staff disciplinary issues.
