Should a reform councillor feel pressure to resign if they hold a public sector role specifically teaching

[mids2019]

So locally we had a newly appointed Reform councillor regionally who held a job in teaching. According to them once he has taken up the position as councillor he was roles by the school management as the school has a diverse cohort of students he was brining his position into disrepute as the policies of Reform may not necessarily reflect EDI ethos of the school.

Is this right? Should public sector employees police the political views of employees or even engage in action that could be construed as undemocractic? The school argues that if a teacher is a known reform councillor then students would infer they may hold views that would compromise teaching to a wide range of pupils.

Why would their personal political views have any bearing on the way they teach the National Curriculum?

I wouldn't vote Reform if it was the last party standing, and I don't take my political views to work with me either.

According to them is doing a lot of heavy lifting in the OP

The tension here is that being a councillor is a part time, modestly paid role. You’re expected to have another job. But lots of employers, not just public sector ones, are anxious about political impartiality and don’t want politicians who publicly and vocally advocate for their chosen party to be on staff.

As a society we have to choose. We can have full time councillors with no other job, but we’d have to pay them as such. Or we can have cheaper, part time councillors, and accept that they need to earn a living. That means employers have to accept that some of their staff might be politically active. Obviously some sectors (civil service etc) are especially sensitive, but teaching is not one of them. Nor is the NHS.

It’s definitely not reasonable to exclude people on the basis of which (lawful) party they belong to. Ultimately Reform is the most popular party in the UK today. You can’t argue it’s not mainstream.

That’s a long winded way of saying schools and parents just have to suck it up, or else the school will almost certainly lose the resulting employment tribunal.

Why would a Reform councillor be any more likely to allow their politics to affect their work in a school than a councillor who belongs to any other party?

Teachers are beholden to the Government's teacher standards. I imagine the school feel that this is a breach of part two: personal and professional conduct. We are meant to be as politically neutral as possible because we are in a position of authority to impressionable children.

IMHO whether it is or not would depend on different factors, such as whether the political catchment area is the same as the school.

I am a teacher. The kids have no clue what way I lean politically. I deliver any lesson on politics in a neutral way - everything angle is given impartially. I have just done a politics lesson following Animal Farm and the kids have no clue what my opinions are.
Even as a Tory or Labour councillor there is some leeway as to beliefs - however with Reform there is NO doubt what they believe in. Imagine being that Syrian kid having fled war being taught by someone whose mantra is ‘stop the boats’

I feel there is a difference between personal views and how we do our jobs. As long as the two are kept separate and there is no suggestion that those views are being shared with students there should be no issue.
I have to say in the years my children went through school, the only views that they ever told us expressed by teachers were left wing ones but we just encouraged them to learn, discuss, etc and assumed we still lived in a free country

If they are prepared to not discuss politics in the classroom, and for example include EDI policies in the PSHE curriculum (apologies if it now has another name) if it part of their teaching, then they should be able to continue.

Though I can imagine parents' evening will not be easy for them.

They’re a company not a party though aren’t they?

The majority of the UK population want to stop the boats. It’s hardly an extreme view.

I don’t disagree but would it be the same response if they were a Labour councillor? Teaching unions used to be closely affiliated with the Labour Party, after all; not sure if this is still the case. And certainly a lot of teachers will have ‘I’m voting Labour’ on their profile picture on social media at election time. So as much as we try to say it applies to all parties, it clearly doesn’t and that’s unfair.

Or a member of staff who has to report to somebody who believes you have no business being there in the first place or that recognising your disabilities makes you a 'victim'.

Stop the boats, take back control of our borders, smash the gangs are all things Keir Starmer has said.

Teachers are obliged to be impartial and not express their own political views or those on religions. By dint of being a counsellor for a party, he is exposing his political beliefs - and with Reform, his views on different religions. Therefore he is breaking the teaching code of conduct and should resign. I would also question how he could perform the role of counsellor with such a work-load heavy day job, but I guess with the example set by Farage, he probably doesn't do any counsellor work.

The issue arises because it's obviously difficult to see how the values of someone who has chosen to represent Reform could be remotely compatible with someone being responsible for nurturing, developing and shaping the minds of young children. However, repugnant as Reform's views are, they are not illegal, so the school cannot really do anything.

As a parent, I would be looking to move my child to another school rather than leaving them to be taught by someone so objectionable.

Reform is a legal party. So you either ban all who are involved in politics, regardless of party, from certain professions for example teaching, or ban none. We can't say someone involved with Reform is less able to be impartial than someone involved with Labour or the Greens.

The only other alternative is repeal the Equality Act. Because that act protects everyone even people you dislike or disagree with.

And you would never know the thoughts of someone at that new school, once you’d disrupted your child’s education and social circle for one teacher, of course.

Of course not. Most teachers keep their political views to themselves and we wouldn't know what they were thinking privately. Exposing your child to a morally deficient teacher is a risk all parents have to take if they send their kids to school. But if teacher chooses to publicly advertise their repugnant views, then it is no longer a risk but a certainty. Many parents would take action accordingly.

I agree. They might have been sacked for something else but either think the reason given is fake and it’s actually because they’re Reform, or they know it isn’t but are lying that it is.

The original story in the op sounds like bollocks.

It's this bit According to them - just sounds a bit like the councillor is spinning a yarn.

Better expect every Labour teacher to resign, then.

Tbf I imagine that not many teachers are also councillors (teaching is pretty time consuming!) so I wouldn’t be surprised if this head teacher had just never had member of staff be a councillor for another party. Maybe they believe that any teacher being a councillor for any party is against the guidelines on not being political, and so would take issue with all of it, not just Reform.

It absolutely should be because that is neutrality.

With reference to the query about social media- my understanding is that a teacher shouldn't state the school that employs them on SM unless their SM posts etc. adhere to the teacher standards. We are obligated to protect our privacy from students and parents/carers on SM for safeguarding reasons anyway (UK teacher). I wouldn't expect a teacher on LinkedIn to express their political leanings on a professional forum.

Like a Reform councillor is going to feel the need to do anything other than act in his or her own personal best interest. Don't make me laugh.

I have scraped better things than Reform members off of the sole of my shoe.

Well there’s certainly some bigotry and hatemongering on this thread. It’s like 2016 all over again