A heated exchange between a teacher and pupils at Rye College has been captured on video after students challenged what they were being taught about sex and gender.

During the classroom discussion, a pupil can be heard saying: “There are only two genders,” before adding: “That is my opinion. If I respect their opinion, can’t they respect my opinion?”

The teacher responds that gender is not necessarily linked to the sex a person is born with and tells the pupils: “Gender is about how you identify.”

The teacher goes on to distinguish biological sex from gender and says there are people who are intersex, while telling the students that there are “lots of genders”, including transgender and agender identities.

The pupils repeatedly disagree with the teacher and argue that their views should also be respected.

At one stage, the teacher describes what the pupils are saying as “really despicable”.

The discussion appears to have begun after comments were made about another person’s gender identity.

One pupil says they had asked how somebody could identify as a cat when they were a girl, although parts of the conversation immediately surrounding that claim are unclear in the recording.

The teacher tells the pupils that if they do not accept what is being taught they “need to go to a different school” and says the matter will be reported to another member of staff.

The teacher adds that the pupils need a “proper educational conversation about equality, diversity and inclusion”, before saying: “I’m not having that expressed in my lesson.”

The pupils respond that other students share their views but do not say so because of the reaction they could receive.

Towards the end of the recording, the teacher tells the pupils that a statement is being written and that they are also likely to be asked to provide statements about what happened.