A 34-year teaching career has come to an end after former ACT primary school principal Janelle Rowe refused to participate in Wear It Purple Day.

Ms Rowe, who had worked in education for 34 years and had been a principal at the public primary school since last year, says she objected to her school participating in Wear It Purple Day because she believed the subject matter was inappropriate for children aged four to 12.

Wear it Purple is all about the promotion and acceptance of gender ideology, most of which is based on a lie.

Rowe told the Daily Telegraph that she did not regard the event as simply a dress-up day. In her view, participating could require teachers to explain concepts surrounding sexuality and gender identity to young children, and she believed those conversations should primarily be a matter for parents and families.

“At age four through to 12, these are still issues for parents and for families.”

Ms Rowe proposed an alternative: Bullying No Way Week, arguing that an anti-bullying program could address the same underlying concern — ensuring children are treated with respect and that no child is bullied or excluded.

The powers that be said no, as the program was included in the curriculum a week before the gender ideology promotion day.

Ms Rowe says that after refusing to participate, she was called to the education department and presented with a series of allegations concerning her performance.

She says she was subsequently placed under supervision and directed to support and participate in the event. The behaviour of some of the bureaucrats was almost bullying itself.

“There was a phone call, there was an ‘I need to speak to you face-to-face’, there was a ‘bring a support person if you want to but come now’, and then I was told a list of allegations and topics that I had done wrong,” she told News24.

She also claimed “half the staff were going to quit” if she refused to take part, and she “needed to win the confidence back of staff” by taking part in the day.

Most teachers believe every child deserves kindness and protection from bullying. Many also believe that questions about sexuality and gender should be approached differently at different ages.

A parent can want their child’s school to be welcoming to every student while also wanting to know exactly what is being taught.

Schools can seek to support vulnerable students while still recognising that parents have an important role in their children’s moral and personal development.

A genuinely respectful education system should have room for all of those conversations. Instead, the education system in Australia tries to ram ideologies down the throats of students, often without parental knowledge or consent.

Australian schools should be able to protect every child from bullying and discrimination while also allowing reasonable disagreement about how, when and by whom sensitive subjects are introduced.

Bullying or pressuring staff who disagree with an ideology based on a lie should never happen.