Teacher sacked after refusing to use preferred pronouns without first checking with parents

[rogdmum]

“I wanted at least to make sure that my student had parental support and was making an informed decision,’ he said. ‘As a parent myself, I would have been furious if my child had taken this step and I hadn’t been told anything.’

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11246431/Swindon-teacher-sacked-refusing-use-pupils-preferred-pronouns-without-parental-permission.html

I sometimes wonder whether my daughter’s former teachers had any idea her school was supporting her transition (initially) without our knowledge and against clinical advice. I suspect even if they had been aware and had been uncomfortable about doing so, there would have been no way for them to push back against it with management.

At 16 you can change your name without parental permission, so if a 16-18 year old wanted to change their name they could do that via deed poll and update their school records and the teacher would have no option but to use that name.

Obviously the parent would become aware of this due to school comms.

But there really are no circumstances where it’s appropriate for a teacher to keep a minor’s social transition a secret from whoever has parental responsibility (parent/guardian/social services) unless it’s part of a medical treatment which would then be supervised by a clinician (and a multidisciplinary team) and as the minor would’ve had to have several assessment appointments at one of only two locations (London or Leeds) the likelihood of that happening and the parents being oblivious is vanishingly unlikely.

IMO there needs to be some sort of audit for what and when parental supervision/sign off is required as it seems that while in some areas of life we have decided to slow down the child-adult process (eg staying in education/training until you are 18, paying child benefit until the end of key stage 5/age 19, expecting parents to contribute to university costs if household income is higher than x) yet in other areas adolescents are treated as mini adults (full price bus fare at 16, legal change of name without parents permission at 16, no need to inform parents if their young adult child drops out of the university course the parents are paying towards)

It makes absolutely zero sense that parents are required to give written permission before a school can take an under 18 year old to the nearby art gallery or for the school to snap an under 18 year old’s photo for the school newsletter, but the same school believes it can facilitate a change of an under 18 year old’s sex marker on their school record without even telling the parents about it.

I'm uncomfortable at the idea of parents' having rights in relation to a 17 year old. Parents don't own their children and generally have obligations to, not rights over, their children.

So far as other situations where the parents are excluded- well anything related to health issues for starters.

Andrew Doyle interviewing the teacher, Kevin Lister, who seems like a top bloke. I will happily plant some bulbs in his garden once his case is ready to go forward.

The teacher has been exercising his right to free speech on Twitter.

This is one his least controversial statements.

Parental consent doesn’t seem high on his list of concerns.

What’s wrong with that?

Do you think children and adolescents signing up to become life long medical patients SHOULD be normalised?

Here’s a post from the trans uk Reddit recently and another by the same poster for the medical timeline - blockers at 15, cross sex hormones at 17 and a surgical removal of the gonads at 18. No gametes stored.

Now 23 and posting about hopes for artificial gametes grown from stem cells as there is no other way to have a biological child.

Should this be normalised?

This is flat wrong.

Safeguarding trumps everything and teachers have a legal duty above all else to safeguard children. If the policy is anti-safeguarding, which I think arguably encouraging children to keep secrets from their parents is, then teachers should not blindly follow it.

Also Safeguarding trumps GDPR.
Here's a copy and paste from 'Keeping Children Safe in Education 2022' the statutory guidance for schools and colleges.

"120. The Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR do not prevent the sharing of
information for the purposes of keeping children safe. Fears about sharing
information must not be allowed to stand in the way of the need to safeguard and promote the welfare and protect the safety of children."

Bottom of p. 31

When I did prevent training it said that adults trying to encourage children to keep secrets from their parents and drive a wedge between them and their parents is a massive red flag. I think schools not speaking to parents about transitioning their children socially is anti-safeguarding as well as dangerous given the people making these decisions have no medical expertise at all and as the Cass report pointed out this is not a neutral act.

'things that have historical precedent for children aren't necessarily good for children' well, surely we'd all agree with that?

How on earth do you then get to 'parental consent not high on his list of concerns' - the tweet has nothing to do with parental consent it's about not agreeing with a guardian article. Assuming of course it is a tweet from the teacher in question which has not been evidenced.

Sigh.

my post was no more inflammatory than the post it replied to.

Safeguarding trumps everything.

Which is why it is vitally important that policies are followed. People being allowed to decide they know best and charging off in all directions is a recipe for safeguarding problems.

And if the policies themselves aren’t fit for purpose because they’ve been written by lobby groups with no understanding of safeguarding? Then what?

Because that’s where we are.

Then you explain why the policies need changing, and if you can't work with the policies of your work place you resign.
What you don't do is make up your own policies.

But the only on my way to change the policies seems to be via lawfare, which is what this teacher plans to do.

Let’s face it this whole thing is nonsense. Parents have the initial right every time to find out what their kids are up to and the decisions the school is making. Else the school can pay for they keep if the school wants to take precedent. It seems to me the last society is trying to turn family values on its head by insisting the family is of no importance.

Lets take for example university applications. Do parents have an absolute right to know which universities their children are applying to?

Just wondering whether any transgirls go in for the maths thing?

Yes. This.

Keeping Children Safe in Education also states that if necessary teachers should whistleblow. This is essentially what this teacher is doing because the policies are so captured (and illegal) and I'm guessing he knows that he'll just be sent around the houses and get fobbed off if he tries to suggest amending the policies. There is a link to government whistleblowing advice in KCSIE.

Obviously it's a last resort but it's something teachers should be able to do. What kind of world would we live in if teachers had to do things they thought would harm children and their families just because the policy said so and literally the only recourse was asking the person who'd written the harmful illegal policy in the first place to change it? When people have an agenda that's not an easy task.

It is of course also possible that he's already tried challenging the policies and no-one listened.

With the Cass review clearly stating that social transition is not a neutral act, schools who take the decision - without any medical expertise or advice - to socially transition a child without any parental involvement are on very shaky safeguarding and child protection ground indeed.

As Allison Bailey's case showed, 'they told us to do it' and pointing at whichever non medically qualified and ignorant of safeguarding trans organisation/ lobby group advised them won't take away from their ultimate responsibility.

Bumping this thread to say that Kevin Lister, the Swindon teacher sacked and put on the barring list for DBS for not he/himming a 17 year old female who was entering a girls maths competition, has his case coming up next month and is in need of gardening.

I don't know him and have no connection to the case, but this one definitely looks like it needs sunlight and carrots.