Teacher sacked after blocking trans pupil’s bid to be Head Girl

‘The panel found it concerning that Ms Field had allowed hostile and derogatory language to be used and had not challenged it’

A FRENCH teacher has been sacked after attempting to scupper the election hopes of a transgender candidate who wanted to be Head Girl.

Susan Field told her tutor group that she felt the pupil was not “representative” of the student body and that it was not an “appropriate” role for her, the teaching watchdog found.

Ms Field, who was said to have previously enjoyed an “unblemished 35-year teaching career”, was dismissed for gross misconduct from Ash Manor School in Surrey.

The student in question – referred to by the Teaching Regulation Agency as “Pupil I” – had publicly identified as a female student to the school since the start of the academic year.

Staff were briefed that she wished to identify as a girl, would have a girl’s name, and that female pronouns should be used when referring to her.

She was running for election on the school’s Student Senior Leadership Team but Ms Field admitted that she had attempted to scupper this.

Ms Field told 21 children in her Year 11 tutor group that “the reason why she was going to rank Pupil I last was because she considered that Pupil I was not representative of the student body”.

The teacher went on to admit that she had intended to use her teacher vote to rank the pupil in the bottom place as she thought she was the “least representative student” to be made Head Student.

The panel found allegations proven that she was guilty of making “inappropriate and transphobic” remarks while discussing Pupil I’s candidacy for the Student Senior Leadership Team.

She admitted saying Year 7 should not be introduced to “that kind of thing” or “that sort of thing” in reference to the possibility of Pupil I being elected as a role model to represent the school.

The disciplinary hearing in Coventry was told that during the 10 to 15-minute conversation in May 2019, various pupils described Pupil I as “disgusting”.

Other “hostile and derogatory language” was also used which Ms Field failed to challenge, the panel said.

It was told she had taught at Ash Manor from November 2012 and was one of the school’s highest paid teachers when she was sacked in June 2019.

She was dismissed for gross misconduct after a disciplinary hearing into her remarks and subsequently lost her appeal.

Chris Rushton, who chaired the panel, said: “There were numerous examples that a number of derogatory or hurtful remarks had been made by pupils against Pupil I based on Pupil I being transgender during the tutor group conversation.

“The panel found it concerning that Ms Field had allowed such hostile and derogatory language to be used and had not challenged it during the discussion.

“Ms Field admitted that at no stage during the discussion did she interject to admonish pupils for making derogatory comments.”

Alan Meyrick, for the Education Secretary, stopped short of banning Ms Field from the classroom, saying that she had shown “clear and genuine remorse for her actions”.

He added: “It was clear to the panel that Ms Field was greatly ashamed and upset that her actions had negatively affected some of the pupils.”