Teacher banned for refusing to use male pronouns to refer to a 17-year-old female
A TEACHER has been banned from the profession for “misgendering” a pupil – with his ban coming through on the same day the Government issued guidance to protect staff on trans issues.
Kevin Lister, 60, lost his job at a fur- ther education college after refusing to use a male name and pronouns to refer to a 17-year-old female pupil who identified as a boy. He also warned the pupil against “irreversible” surgical treatment. He was later referred to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), which told him on Dec 19 that he would be banned from working with children.
The same day, the Government issued its guidance, including a provision that teachers should not be compelled to use a different pronoun.
Mr Lister said the ruling undermined the guidance issued by the Department for Education (DfE), which ministers claim will give schools “greater confidence” in navigating trans issues.
He added: “Any school can do to any teacher who decides to follow the guidance what they’ve done to me. Sack them, send them off to DBS and have them basically disbarred.”
The DBS concluded that Mr Lister had caused “emotional harm” to the student and would likely do so again if allowed to work with children in future.
The DfE’s guidance states: “It is expected that there will be very few occasions in which a school or college will be able to agree to a change of pronouns. On these rare occasions, no teacher or pupil should be compelled to use these preferred pronouns.”
A DBS spokesman said: “Educational settings implement their own safeguarding policies. When people fail to or indicate that they will not comply with these policies, there is a legal duty to refer for barring investigations.
“The decision to bar an individual is taken if there is evidence the person has engaged in conduct that harmed a child or adult or put them at risk of harm. This is not strictly limited to physical harm but also psychological harm.”
The DfE declined to comment on a DBS case.