Female teacher beaten to maths job by man with 'firm handshake' wins tribunal case

The rugby thing seems thrown in to try and justify their decision?

How many people can teach maths really well and also coach rugby properly? That's bollocks.
I've tried teaching maths it's really difficult. Getting it yourself is no help when explaining to others.

I don't understand the job spec which is why I think they made it up after the event to justify what they did.

All that happens is they'll all learn to be less honest about why they hired the man, next time round.

I have lost count of the number of highly-qualified, experienced women friends who have not applied for great jobs because they couldn't tick every single box on the "essential qualities" list, only to find that job had then gone to some bloke who could barely tick half the "essential qualities" list but applied anyway, and expected his half-assed efforts to be plenty good enough.

^^

This - I was once asked why the vast majority of my hires and promotion recommendations one year were female - answer because they ticked pretty well all of the criteria and not many of the men did. Also I've seen women let go for not being able to do the job and men who were even less competent promoted where they could do less damage....

I'm not sure this is necessarily sexism (Pinewood is a prep school and women make up a majority of teachers in preps I believe) so much as wanting to get the most "bang for their buck" from the staff member, or the man being "the right sort of person" as OPs have said. This is the kind of stuff that matters in the boarding sector. It doesn't sound like of either of them was a very good candidate.

I wasn't suggesting that they got it right in this case or that they weren't discriminatory, I was just disputing the idea that - in general terms - the qualities set out in the judgment are one's that shouldn't be wanted or that a decision to hire someone who didn't do a degree in the subject against someone that did, is necessarily a bad one.

Good, glad she won her case.

I'd rather my child left school knowing how to do maths than play rugby

No fan of rugby or sports, but I'd rather my child was taught sports by someone who knew their onions, as there would be less chance of injury.

As for the comments about private schools, I don't know about England but they certainly apply here in Mexico. Teachers don't need any qualifications at all in private schools and all too many of them are designed to attract the parent instead of thinking about the best interests of the child.

This story is pretty revealing about how private schools work. People sometimes assume that you get a much better quality of education at private school, but in practice there's a huge variety in the sector.

Very true. I've worked at a school which was certainly the kind of place to prioritise employing someone who was 'our sort' over someone who was well-qualified in their subject and a good classroom teacher.

Its so depressing that this sort of thing goes on, and worse she had to go to court to prove.

I'm always shocked at the complete unprofessionalism in recruitment and selection in academy (etc) schools. They seem total amateurs. This sounds like 'we don't know what we're looking for but we'll know it when we see it.' And invariably it's a white man.
Independent schools don’t have to make conventional decisions (provided they do not discriminate on the grounds of sex).
They do have to have transparent processes to achieve this. Going by their justification they had none. And I would call this a predictable decision with very little unconventional about it.

Most men are braggadocios. The amount of ablolute shite I've heard over the years and I'm still gobsmacked at the neck of them.

Women need to get better at not giving a fuck and also dare I say, know how to give a firm handshake.

I'm very glad she won her case.

Leading school
Good school
School

No prizes for guessing which category this establishment falls under.

Let's just hope Mr Pennyfeather's starting pistol no longer uses live ammo.

She won her tribunal. I'm fairly sure it looked at the facts.

But, having interviewed her, they might not have thought she would be very good at teaching secondary school maths? Again, not saying that is what happened here. Perhaps a school might decide to re-jig the maths specialists teachers so that they teach the upper years, as they thought the person they hired was a fantastic teacher and would be able to teach the lower years, plus having the extra skills they needed. Perhaps the field was weak. Again, not saying this is a good decision, but they should be allowed to make it.

Independent schools don’t have to make conventional decisions (provided they do not discriminate on the grounds of sex). It is up to those seeking an education outside of the state sector to decide whether to pay for it.

Sounds like really poor recruitment. I get the impression that they liked "the cut of his jib" and changed the job to suit him instead of filling the actual post. They should have offered him something else and let her just teach maths.

Valuing firm handshakes and such like is such crap. It really tells you little about how good people will be at the job. Neither does appearing super confident (some confidence is of course important): sometimes the most confident are the biggest bullshitters.

The thing is the recruiters don't care. Interviews aren't about getting the best person to do the job. They are about getting the best person for the job. Which are rarely the same thing.

Simple statistics, and the ongoing instances of the Peter Principle show clearly that about 50% of people in any role are incompetent.

Minor private schools, in the mould of St Custard's. As any fule kno, Sigismund Arbuthnot had many strings to his bow, and the Headmaster also ran a whelk stall on the side.

LOL at this. You said what I was trying to say, but were much funnier.

Standard behaviour in private schools sadly. I’ve had experience of both state and independent schools. Male sporty teachers are always prioritised in mixed sex or boys’ schools. They’re usually affable ex-privately educated people. They’re ‘charm’ is used to sell the school to prospective parents - talent in teaching doesn’t matter. Private schools assume that the male of the household will be paying the fees, so look to staff their schools to attract parents. It’s why they think firm handshakes matter.