Teacher sacked after expressing personal view on Israel and abortion in class

[cakeorwine]

A teacher joined the school in October 2024 as a French teacher and Year 10 tutor

She was covering history. The topic was the bombing of Dresden. She also asked whether similar moral issues surrounded the current Israel-Palestine conflict, in an attempt to engage the class.

In response to a student’s question, Ms Meston affirmed that she was “pro-Israel”, but lamented the deaths of innocent people in Gaza caught up in the conflict

A student asked her whether she was “pro-abortion”, to which she responded that she was “pro-life”.

Asked to elaborate on her position, Ms Meston explained that she held this view because she was a Christian and knew women who had undergone abortions and regretted the decision.

A student replied that she knew women who had abortions without regretting them, to which Ms Meston responded: “Fair enough."

She was dismissed for “sharing personal opinions on political issues with pupils”.
The school’s headteacher said there was a “real concern” that Ms Meston would continue to “cause harm or distress to pupils”.

During her time at the school, a group of students repeatedly asked for her views on Nigel Farage and Donald Trump, to which she responded briefly that they were both popular politicians before returning to the subject of the lesson.

One pupil also asked her whether she would be attending the Reform UK party conference in February last year, after she had encountered a student at a previous Reform event.

Ms Meston said she would be attending, but maintained that she did not force her views on students at any point.

The Teachers’ Standards, set by the Department for Education, state that teachers “should generally avoid sharing personal political views unless they are entirely confident it will not be seen as promoting that viewpoint”.

The guidance adds: “When political issues are taught, they must be presented in a balanced manner.”

There are strict rules on expressing your personal opinions in class, especially on issues as heated as abortion, Gaza etc

Political impartiality in schools - GOV.UK

It sounds like this class got out of hand - she was supposed to be covering Dresden. I've been a teacher and you just say that your opinion isn't relevant. You can discuss what people think for and against

I was asked if I believe in God because I didn't pray in assembly. It's not hard to say that I don't share my beliefs in class.

Whilst I fully agree with you that teachers should keep their political opinions to themselves like some kind of Hippocratic oath, the reality is they don't.

I have seen many instances of teachers with various political stickers on their cars or in one case on a laptop lid which was facing the classroom.

Where do you draw the line?

I don't think they should wear logos or have stickers on laptops

I think it's ok to have stickers on cars.

I could have a sticker saying transwomen are not women. But I should be able to treat a transgirl in my class in exactly the same way as the other girls and follow the school policy towards trans pupils.

I could argue in a staff meeting about school policy but I would never express my opinion to students.

I am sure a pupil or parent would complain about the sticker but I would hope that the school would recognise that I did not act on my views towards the pupils

Teachers post on Facebook, Twitter, MN with their views,

At what point does it become bringing the school into disrepute.

If a teacher posted about white lives matter and it turned out his posting history revealed an extensive degree of racist, anti semitic, anti Islam Christian white nationalist posting, then I think at that point questions could be asked of him - but his teaching and more importantly his attitude towards groups within his class should be monitored

@cakeorwine but do you agree there's a big middle ground between "teachers shouldn't share personal opinions", and "teachers should be sacked for sharing personal opinions"?

There is no way you can truly reconcile these two things, or explain it to that student ——
I could have a sticker saying transwomen are not women. But I should be able to treat a transgirl in my class in exactly the same way as the other girls and follow the school policy towards trans pupils.

This!
I was a secondart teacher and never revealed my personal views on anything -the kids will try to provoke -you don’t take the bait.
Unfortunately there are weak teachers and those so convinced they have the moral high ground /always Labour or Green voters natch/who want to brainwash the kids.

Depends on the opinions being shared.

Many of the children in my class were obsessed with football. I have little interest in football. They asked me which team I supported.

They were stunned when I gave them my personal view on football. I said that I didn't really like it and I preferred rugby.

It could have been worse. I could have been a Man City fan and said that I thought Leeds were rubbish.

It was the Rugby World Cup/ England were in the semis so we had a watch party in the school hall. Normally they did this for the football world cup or the Euros

I had to teach football in my class. I introduced them to Tag Rugby and ran a Tag Rugby after school club and organised the first Tag Rugby competition between local primary schools. And I ensured that the children behaved properly. Any arguing with the ref and they had to go back 10m They also had to shake the hands of the other team when it finished. Many of the parents who were used to football matches were surprised.

That's a good time to express a personal view. But actually Leeds are doing ok at the moment

I wouldn't need to explain that to a child.

And it's perfectly possible to have a personal view on trans issues whilst still maintaining professionality and treating people the same.

If you can't do that, you are in the wrong job

Why do you believe it's always Labour or Green teachers?

Yes, but teachers should not be imparting their own personal beliefs or interpretation of those values, whether religious, political or otherwise.

What are 'British' values, anyway?

Already listed earlier in the thread.

Link to explain how they're taught

Guidance on promoting British values in schools published - GOV.UK

According to the world values survey, Brits are unusually:

secular
tolerant
with high interpersonal trust
and low institutional trust
and low ‘work-centrism’

Exactly where do you draw the line?

In my opinion there is a big difference between giving an answer to a direct question such as "Miss - do you agree with abortion" as opposed to giving your opinion unsolicited "today class we are going to talk about why abortion is morally wrong" or "today we are going to talk about why women should have the right to abortion ".

But it seems to need to be a clear cut distinction- either you allow direct answers to direct questions or you ban the expression of any views including car stickers etc. It's one or the other.

The school would have to discipline or sack half the staff as that’s how widespread this issue is. I hear similar tales from friends whose children attend different schools, it’s across the board.

I have considered writing to my local MP with evidence of the print offs. From what I gather the majority of teens think it’s nonsense they just go along with it for any easy life. It’s not good.

While she was covering a history lesson in March last year, a student asked her whether she was “pro-abortion”, to which she responded that she was “pro-life”.

Asked to elaborate on her position, Ms Meston explained that she held this view because she was a Christian and knew women who had undergone abortions and regretted the decision.

A student replied that she knew women who had abortions without regretting them, to which Ms Meston responded: “Fair enough.”

During the lesson, which focused on the 1945 bombing of Dresden, she also asked whether similar moral issues surrounded the current Israel-Palestine conflict, in an attempt to engage the class.

In response to a student’s question, Ms Meston affirmed that she was “pro-Israel”, but lamented the deaths of innocent people in Gaza caught up in the conflict.

And that's the difference.

Personally I don't even think she should have answered at all.
And then she was asked to elaborate

It was a HISTORY lesson on the bombing of Dresden
She decided to compare it to Gaza
And then abortion came up

In teaching, you plan a lesson and teach the plan. Discussion should centre around the lesson topic

Her subject was French, She is a French teacher. She was asked to cover a lesson on the bombing of Dresden.

Somehow it became about Gaza

I could have taught that lesson.

Explained the facts

February 13th. WW2 nearly over as the Allies were advancing on all sides
Dresden was a major rail and communication hub and housed around 110 factories employing 50,000 workers contributing to the German war effort Allied intelligence at the time believed that bombing the city would hinder troop movements and weaken German resistance.

Between February 13 and 15, 1945, 772 Royal Air Force (RAF) bombers and 527 United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) bombers dropped over 3,900 tons of high-explosive and incendiary bombs on Dresden, Germany, creating a massive firestorm that destroyed more than 1,600 acres of the city centre and killed approximately 25,000 people

The raids were part of Operation Thunderclap, aimed at disrupting German communications, rail transport, and industrial production to support the Soviet advance on the Eastern Front

The combination of high-explosive bombs and incendiaries caused individual fires to merge into a self-sustaining firestorm, with temperatures reaching up to 1,500°C (2,700°F), consuming buildings and creating lethal conditions for civilians historytools.org. Eyewitness accounts describe streets ablaze and the sky glowing like a furnace, with many victims being refugees fleeing the Soviet advance

Those are the facts.

At the start, get a secret ballot to see if they believed it was justified or not
Don't tell them the result.

In groups, present an argument the Allies could use to justify the bombing.
Other groups present an argument saying it couldn't be justified.

Then randomly pick people at the end to see what their belief was now. Get them to explain their thinking. Try and find someone to counter that view so you get a discussion going.

Then do a second secret ballot

Present the results before and after

It's a piece of piss for a teacher as they can just present the facts, get the students to do the work and occasionally move around the groups to encourage discussion and thinking

That sounds a fun lesson to do. I taught primary so never had to explore complex issues

We were sorting animals into groups and they had to work in pairs to decide their criteria.

They then stood at the board and the class gave them an animal. The pair then said what group it was in and then people could guess the criteria

Most were straight forward. Legs, fliies, warm climate

But one pair - Jessica and Imogen* (names might have been changed) stumped as

Can you guess the category?

Group 1) Cats, dogs, rabbits, horses, ponies, gerbils
Group 2) Cows, wolves, goldfish, bearded dragons, foxes

I did like my class to think critically in my lessons and to use their imagination but this was too much

What staggers me when attending training in an educational setting is a trainer says “staff should think ..,” followed by whatever view it is ie often related to a protected characteristic. I take exception to this, in the county we can think what we want, we can hold any view we want it’s how we act that is important. It’s fair enough to say you treat xy this way or that if it’s policy (I agree that some of those policies need challenging) but teachers are able to think what they want

I agree.

We're all individuals
We have to think for ourselves

Sorry I think that's a [long winded] cop out.
No reasonable person would say a teacher should be sacked for expressing an opinion on something trivial like their favourite sport.

The question is whether expressing a view on more contentious political matters merits automatic sacking.

I don't. I think it's a pretty common occurence in schools and you'd very quickly lose a large portion of the workforce.

@attichoarderdisagree. Teachers shouldn't think it's fine or acceptable to discriminate.

It wasn't "automatic sacking" in this case, though. Concerns had been raised with the teacher on four previous occasions. She had been given additional training to help her understand the expectations and the boundaries.

Surely, if someone repeatedly ignores policy and keeps disregarding reasonable management instructions, there comes a point when sacking them is the only viable option.

A teacher like any other has freedom to think what they want - how they act is what is important.

I refer you to my post at 13:49

I guess it's your belief that this teacher should not have been sacked?

Can you explain the reasons why you don't think she should have been sacked?

I started reading it at 13:49 and am still going - not sure why adding a lesson plan into an MN post was completely necessary to make your point, or why you keep linking to the telegraph gaza section.