Joshua Sutcliffe Accused of Not Upholding “Dignity and Respect” in Classroom, Stirs Up Discussions on Transgender Policies in Schools
In an unprecedented ruling, the Teaching Regulation Authority (TRA) has banned a Christian teacher from the profession for “misgendering” a pupil. Joshua Sutcliffe, 33, a former maths teacher at The Cherwell School, a state secondary in Oxford, is believed to have not treated a transgender boy with the required “dignity and respect”.
According to the TRA, Sutcliffe congratulated a group of students, including the transgender boy who was born a girl, with the words “well done girls”. Sutcliffe asserted that the incident was unintentional and he apologised immediately, yet this is deemed to have failed in protecting the pupil’s wellbeing by not using the preferred pronouns.
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The TRA stated, “The panel was satisfied that the conduct of Mr Sutcliffe fell significantly short of the standard of behaviour expected of a teacher.”
Accusations against Sutcliffe also extend to him expressing personal views against gay marriage in a classroom discussion, which is deemed to have a potential negative impact on the pupils, particularly those from the LGBT+ community.
The TRA ruling was supported by Alan Meyrick, the TRA’s Chief Executive, who said, “In my view, it is necessary to impose a prohibition order in order to maintain public confidence in the profession.”
Mr Sutcliffe’s controversial case coincides with schools awaiting the first detailed government guidance on responding to transgender pupils.
Following a complaint by the transgender pupil’s parent in 2017, Sutcliffe faced a disciplinary hearing at The Cherwell School. He later appeared on a television programme to discuss the issue, leading to his suspension and subsequent dismissal. The TRA was informed that the pupil felt endangered and experienced suicidal thoughts following Sutcliffe’s television appearance.
Expressing remorse and recognising the impact of his comments on pupils, Sutcliffe’s insight was considered insufficient by the TRA. He has been indefinitely banned from teaching in any school, sixth form college, or children’s home in England, but he can apply for the ban to be removed in 2025.
Sutcliffe, who plans to appeal the ruling with the support from the Christian Legal Centre, expressed his grief over the decision saying, “I believe affirming children in gender confusion in the classroom is psychologically damaging for them. I refuse to go against my conscience and cause a child harm and refuse to apologise for that.”
The Department for Education chose not to comment on the specific case, but stated that the Education Secretary is working closely with the minister for women and equalities to support schools dealing with children questioning their gender.
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This is a Disgraceful way to treat a Professional School Teacher, There’ll be no teachers to try to Educate our kids in future if this is going to happen every time a teacher makes an honest mistake, I hope the rest of the teacher’s come out in sympathy for Joshua Sutcliffe, He shouldn’t lose his job for this.
This teacher, and the doctor who was fired for telling a man,”You are “not” a woman” are using the wrong defence, not everyone is religious, they need to stop using “religion” as their defence, these 2 do “not” have to prove what a persons gender is, the offended “have” to prove they are the gender they are claiming to be, so the only way to win this ridiculous woke war, is to fight it with the correct weapons, and they are, Science, facts and truth, if something is wrong, it is still wrong no matter which way you look at it, and remember, the world is on side and wants to see an end to this stupid ideology.