Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
A teacher has been struck off after he was found guilty of serious misconduct in his treatment of a transgender student.
The Complaints Assessment Committee charged the unnamed teacher with serious misconduct after refusing to call a student by his preferred name and pronouns.
In 2021, the year 10 student told his mathematics teacher that he was transitioning from female to male and would like to be called by a male name and he/him pronouns.
The Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal finding said the teacher's refusal was based on his Christian beliefs and that he did not accept the concept of transitioning.
The findings said the student's preferred name had been recorded on the school's online portal and despite a request by the school's principal, the teacher continued to refuse.
The teacher had a meeting with the student around February 2021 where he said it was against his religion. The student attempted to compromise, suggesting the teacher use his preferred name but she/her pronouns.
Again, this was refused with the teacher telling the student he did not want him to go down the "path of sin".
In his submissions to the tribunal, the teacher maintained serious misconduct had not occurred. His submissions set out his beliefs and reasons for dealing with the issue in the way he had.
The tribunal findings said the submissions "begin with objection based on Christianity, move to verbatim scripture and then continue on to link the conduct with 'the devil', homosexuality and even abortion".
In the teacher's own words, he said he believed it would be serious misconduct to call the student by a boy's name.
"I should not be compelled to call a student by a name that was never presented to me as a legal change, only a change made in the school roll and instruction by the school principal. You cannot compel a teacher to call a student by a name that is not their legal name.
He continued: "A person created and born as a male or female should live as they were born and I believe that any deviation from this is a cause for confusion and harm in their lives.
"Schools should in no way suggest gender is a choice or in any way encourage or condone pursuing gender changes."
The tribunal said it had "no hesitation" in coming to the view that serious misconduct had indeed occurred.
"For a trusted adult teacher to not only ignore the student's wishes (and the instruction of the school), but also to isolate them and advise them it was wrong, risked quite significant harm in our view."
The tribunal said the student handled his teacher "very bravely" but should never have been in a situation where he had to try and negotiate a compromise.
The tribunal said the teacher's conduct was "completely inappropriate and out of line. It risked belittling the student and minimising the huge personal event occurring in his life. It transgressed well out of the boundaries of a teacher's role".
The tribunal said there was no legal obstacle to calling the student by his preferred name and his arguments referencing abortion and homosexuality in this context were "disgraceful".
It said the teacher's conduct reflected adversely on his abilities as a teacher and could bring the profession in disrepute.
The tribunal said it had "serious concerns" about his fitness to be a teacher at all and was considering a cancellation of his registration.
A further hearing by the tribunal found there was no other option appropriate other than cancelling his registration.
"In our view there is a real and appreciable risk that such conduct, or similar conduct, will be repeated by [the teacher] if he was to be in that position again. Indeed given [the teacher] statements to us we would say that it is quite likely to occur again in similar circumstances."
