Christian teacher accused of 'misgendering' pupil denies misconduct

A Christian maths teacher accused of 'misgendering' a transgender pupil, calling Muhammad a 'false prophet' and saying men in today's society 'are not masculine enough' has denied misconduct.

Joshua Sutcliffe is accused of referring to a transgender student as 'she' while working at a secondary school in Oxford, as well as making 'inappropriate' comments about gay marriage and masculinity at another school in London.

The teacher, who is an evangelical Christian, is facing allegations of misconduct by the Teacher Regulation Agency (TRA).

At a misconduct hearing in Oxford this week Andrew Cullen, representing the TRA, said Mr Sutcliffe had a 'strong belief and unshakeable conviction' that gender cannot be changed from the one assigned at birth.

Mr Sutcliffe is accused of misgendering the student, known only as Pupil A, at The Cherwell School in Oxford in 2017. Mr Sutcliffe admits he used the wrong pronoun but denies it was due to his beliefs and says he apologised for the mistake.

The tribunal heard that after Mr Sutcliffe was suspended and later left the school, he appeared on ITV's This Morning to speak about the incident.

Mr Cullen said Mr Sutcliffe misgendered the pupil again during the segment, and also misgendered the student in an email to the school in December 2018 - which the TRA say also amounts to misconduct.

Mr Sutcliffe is also accused of expressing his views on gay marriage and homosexuality during maths lessons - including making a comment that his roommate had 'stopped being gay through God' - which he denies.

From September 2018, the maths teacher went to work at a boys St Aloysius' College in Islington, north London, where he is accused of showing students videos that were 'inappropriate and had the potential to cause pupils distress'.

He allegedly played his own video to pupils at the boys-only Roman Catholic school in which he said Muslims have a 'false understanding of God' and that Muhammad was a 'false prophet'.

He is also accused of making comments about masculinity, including that there is a 'growing problem in today's society that men are not masculine enough' and that women 'want real men' and are 'not attracted to passive men'.

Mr Sutcliffe also allegedly said children who grow up without a father are more depressed than their peers and are at 'far greater risk of incarceration, teen pregnancy and poverty'.

Mr Sutcliffe accepts the videos are on his Youtube account but denies showing them to students or making the comments in class, the tribunal heard.

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