There has been criticism of a new schools IT system that allows children to change their gender identity without their parents being informed.
TUV leader Jim Allister has hit out at an option on the Schools Information Management System (SIMS).
It is understood that parents would not be told unless the child has specifically agreed.
Mr Allister said he was made aware of the options on the IT system under his role of chairman of the board of governors of a primary school.
He told the the BBC's Nolan Show that the system provides a "drop down box whereby the child - at their discretion - can decree by what pronoun they want to be described".
"And then there is a further drop down box, which indicates that it can be concealed from the parent," he said.
“So you have a situation where Johnny leaves home as Johnny and can decide to go into school and say, 'I want to be called Janine.
Read more:
More time needed on schools transgender guidance, Government says
PM ‘understands parents' frustration' over Raac crisis in schools
"I want to be referred to as she or some other pronoun’.
"And then they can home again and become Johnny – and all of that clandestinely - protected from the knowledge of the parents.
"Now that seems to me fundamentally wrong, that that system should be an operation behind the backs of parents."
But Joanne McParland from the LGBTQI+ charity, Cara-Friend, told the programme: "There may be reasons why the parents are not involved, if the child doesn't want them to know because maybe the parents are not inclusive, they have said things that the child is fearful perhaps of coming out as part of the trans community.
"So in some circumstances it may not be safe for the child to come out to parents.
"A school needs to be a safe environment for the children, it needs to be somewhere young people can be themselves."
A spokesperson for the Education Authority said an upgrade on the system "provided schools the option to add personal pronouns to schools records".
“It is important to note that the inclusion of personal pronouns in school records is not mandatory," she said.
"Each school has the autonomy to decide whether or not to use this feature.
"The information, if recorded, is stored at a local level within the school. Personal pronouns are not captured or shared at a regional level."
She added that only restricted members of staff who have been granted higher-level permissions have the ability to update the pronoun list".
