In a girls’ school in the UK, a teacher had to apologize to her pupils for calling them girls – because not all of them identified themselves as girls. The teacher’s contract was later not renewed and she was forced to leave the school.
During an afternoon lesson at a prestigious private girls’ school, which is part of the independent Girls’ Day School Trust in the UK, the teacher said a simple “good afternoon, girls” to her class of 11-year-olds. However, this was not popular and the pupils immediately began to object to the simple phrase as it was felt that not all the children in the class identified themselves as girls. The teacher responded by saying that if their pronouns are different from their biological sex, she would have to involve their parents.
The next day, all students had put up notes on their desks with their names and the pronouns they wanted to be called. During lunch that day, there was also a protest against the teacher’s choice of using the word “girls”.
The teacher tried to get support from the rest of the school staff, but this was not forthcoming and she was forced to apologize for the use of the word.
– By the end of the week I was in some sort of disciplinary process and the head teacher told me I had to apologize to the girls, the teacher told the Daily Mail.
She adds that the problems began shortly after the children were shown an educational film on diversity and inclusion that talked about gender identities and being “assigned” a gender at birth.
The teacher’s contract at the school was due to be renewed for another term, but the head teacher chose not to keep her as a teacher at the girls’ school.
