Teacher banned from classroom after telling pupil ‘imagine this was your mum’ in lesson about honour killings
A decision has been taken to suspend a teacher from the classroom indefinitely after inappropriate comments made during a lesson on honor killings left students “devastated”.
Alex Lloyd, former Head of Sixth Form and science teacher at Bishop of Winchester Academy, was accused of telling one pupil to “imagine that being your mother murdered” while telling another that honor killings were a serious issue that particularly affected their culture.
The misconduct hearing panel found the teacher’s comments were “inappropriate and unprofessional given the context of the lesson”, according to the Teaching Regulation Authority’s report. The panel said his comments were “targeted and reinforced discriminatory stereotypes, copies of which were considered by the panel as evidence, but did not form part of the learning material”.
In addition to his comment asking a student to imagine his mother being killed, he was also accused of telling another student that female genital mutilation only occurred in their culture, and telling another student that if he lived in Iran, he would have been killed because of the clothes he was wearing.
In four statements from students, Mr. Lloyd reportedly mockingly referred to a reformed faith as a “religion of peace” with a thumbs-up display. Later, after telling another student, “We don’t believe in killing anyone in religion,” he said, “So you’re not that bad.” He then told the student that while he would gladly commit murder if anyone harmed his daughter, he was not sorry if he had offended them.
A witness told the panel that Mr Lloyd’s comments had a significant impact on students. He said he had “never experienced anything like this before” and was surprised that the students were “distraught” and felt they had let Mr Lloyd down.
Mr Lloyd admitted the allegations in a statement of accepted facts in June 2024. According to the panel, his admitted behavior amounted to “unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that could bring the profession into disrepute”.
The panel argued that the teacher’s actions amounted to conduct that could bring the profession into disrepute, warning that the general public would view the comments made by Mr Lloyd as “inappropriate and unprofessional, given the context of the learning material, the religious background of the students and the subsequent negative impact this had on the students”.
The report claimed his behavior demonstrated a lack of tolerance and respect for the rights and beliefs of others, contrary to Core British Values.
As a result of the ban, Mr Lloyd will not be able to teach at any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.
He/she will not be able to apply to have the ban decision lifted until October 2029 at the earliest; If he had applied, a panel would have had to meet to consider whether the restraining order should be revoked.
