Teacher barred 'indefinitely' after sending transphobic tweets

A former teacher has been barred from the profession 'indefinitely' after a tribunal found that she had made a series of transphobic tweets on social media. Camilla Hannan made a series of tweets which mocked the safeguarding regulations introduced at the school for trans and non-binary pupils.

In other tweets on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Miss Hannan also identified a pupil by name as transgender. This was considered to have been sharing the student's private medical information without their knowledge or consent.

Ms Hannan also made remarks about pupils with autism, with the tribunal describing how her remarks had implied that their autism had rendered them unable to understand the 'concept' of gender identity. In a report of a panel reviewing the case the pupil, described as 'Pupil A' was described as having felt 'angry, disappointed and upset' as well as 'betrayed' after finding out about the tweets.

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The panel, which convened on September 9 2024, also noted that Miss Hannan had 'repeatedly misgendered' Pupil A. The former teacher admitted that she had written the offensive tweets in a signed agreement made on on August 25 2024.

These are the posts that Miss Hannan made on social media. Certain details have been redacted to protect the identity of the pupils involved.

In one, she wrote: "Where I teach we have gender identity policy *roll eyes emoji* it’s a load of nonsensical rubbish, as you’d imagine…" A second read: "I teach a [REDACTED] who has changed [REDACTED] pronouns to [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] name to [Pupil A]. I worry about what the next steps will be."

In one tweet she accused transgender pupils of being 'more like oppressors', writing: "Where I teach the trans kids are untouchable. They get everything they ask for and everyone staff and other students alike, is petrified of upsetting them. They don’t seem oppressed to me more like oppressors tbh."

A fourth tweet read: "One of my [REDACTED] students is on [REDACTED]. [REDACTED] has become quite hyperactive and emotionally up and down. I worry for [REDACTED]". Finally, in one tweet she wrote: "The autistic/ASD [REDACTED] I teach are all plastered with trans flags and badges, without exception."

Explaining her behaviour on social media, Ms Hannan had said that she had become frustrated with her workload and had turned to the platform to release her 'pent-up frustration', 'anger', and 'deep concern'. She acknowledged that she had exercised 'poor judgment' with her posts and felt 'huge regret, shame, guilt and many other emotions'.

However, a report on the tribunal stated that 'the panel also noted that Miss Hannan’s remorse did appear to be somewhat self-serving'. They cited that she had believed that her posts had been anonymous, saying that 'this suggested that Miss Hannan’s remorse stemmed from being caught, rather than from reflections on her own behaviour.'

The report added: “In particular, the panel found that Miss Hannan had a deep-seated attitude, and that, whilst she was entitled to have that attitude and hold the views that she did, it was not acceptable for her to have posted these on social media in a way that was damaging to the profession, the School, pupils and in particular Pupil A (who she had “outed” byname). The panel noted that teachers have to be role models for pupils and in the wider community, and that Miss Hannan’s behaviour was incompatible with this role."

Miss Hannan was barred from teaching indefinitely. In two years' time she will have the opportunity to appeal the ban, though it is not guaranteed that this will result in it being lifted. The report read: "it is necessary to impose a prohibition order in order to maintain public confidence in the profession."

Decision maker Marc Carvey wrote in the report: "It is my judgment that a review period of two years is a sufficient and proportionate response to the misconduct found in order to give her the opportunity to attain and demonstrate full insight into the impact of her behaviour."