A teacher has been banned from the classroom indefinitely after inappropriate comments made during a lesson about honour killings left pupils “distraught”.
Alex Lloyd, formerly Head of Sixth Form and a science teacher at the Bishop of Winchester Academy, was accused of telling a pupil “imagine this was your mum being killed”, while telling another that honour killings was a serious matter affecting their culture specifically.
A misconduct hearing panel determined that the teacher’s comments were “inappropriate and unprofessional given the context of the lesson”, according to a Teaching Regulation Agency report. The panel noted his comments were “targeted and reinforced discriminatory stereotypes, which did not form part of the learning material, copies of which the panel considered as evidence.”
As well as his comment asking a pupil to imagine their mother being killed, he was accused of telling another student that female genital mutilation happened exclusively in their culture, and another that if she was living in Iran she would have been killed for what she was wearing.
Four statements from pupils reported Mr Lloyd sarcastically referring to a redacted faith as a “religion of peace” with a thumbs up. He then told another pupil “so you’re all not so bad after all” after they said “we don’t believe in killing anyone in the religion”. He then told that student he was not sorry if he had offended them as he went on to tell the class he would happily commit murder if anyone had hurt his daughter.
A witness told the panel that Mr Lloyd’s comments significantly impacted the pupils. She said she had “never experienced anything like it before” and was taken aback as the pupils were “distraught” and felt let down my Mr Lloyd.
Mr Lloyd admitted the allegations in a statement of agreed facts in June 2024. His admitted conduct amounted to “unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute”, according to the panel.
The panel went on to argue that the teacher’s actions constituted conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, warning that the general public would view comments made by Mr Lloyd as “inappropriate and unprofessional given the context of the learning material, the religious backgrounds of the pupils and the negative impact this had on the pupils thereafter.”
His conduct demonstrated a lack of tolerance and respect for the rights and beliefs of others, contrary to Fundamental British Values, the report alleged.
As a result of the ban, Mr Lloyd will be unable to teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.
He will be unable to apply for the prohibition order to be set aside until October 2029 at the earliest; if he did apply, a panel would have to meet to consider whether the prohibition order should be set aside.
