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.

I am really surprised to find out that teachers aren’t supposed to share their political views at school. Weren’t they teaching children's about BLM and gender ideology not long ago? Millions of kids were coming home from school fully indoctrinated into both causes almost overnight, which nobody can convince me is a coincidence.

I was at school in the early 2000s and certainly remember the history teachers announcing that they were proud communists. I also remember the religions of the teachers (although tbf it was a christian school…).

That was an accidental link in the copied article

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

I think she should have had refresher training and a warning. Being sacked, career ended for this seems a bit much.

The Government advice was in response to a lot of those issues and concerns from parents

Political impartiality in schools - GOV.UK

If you learnt she had already had 4 warnings and training, would that alter your viewpoint?

"Her dismissal followed four incidents in which the school had raised concerns with Ms Meston about her behaviour breaching national guidance, and had given her additional training."

But you've got to admit it's a great lesson plan though

Yes fair enough after 4 warnings.

I think it depends on the nature and severity of the previous incidents, which I expect will all come out in the tribunal.

I'm not saying sharing personal opinions could never be cause for dismissal, but I think it would need to be quite an extreme case to warrant that, and the school would need to be incredibly careful that they hadn't treated people differently based on which end of the political spectrum they occupied.

The school had already discussed concerns with her on four previous occasions - almost certainly with warnings on some of those occasions, though they probably can't disclose that.

They had also provided additional training for her in light of the previous incidents.

How many times do you think it would be reasonable to have to warn her and train her before saying enough is enough?

Apologies, x post

Does it even matter how serious the previous incidents were. She had been warned 4 times already and sent on additional training.

It does not sound like she had any intention of following her employer's policies or their reasonable management instructions. In such situations, sacking is sometimes the only real option.

I'm not sure it's as simple as that. Teachers' personal beliefs can be obvious from other things. Who wears a headscarf. Who wears a cross. Who is ordained or you've seen them in church or at the above mentioned party gathering. Who has a turban or a kippah.

If the teacher expressed a fairly neutral view on Gaza (Israel has a right to exist, it's horrible what the bombing is doing to civilians) then that seems relevant to the lesson.

In a church school I'm guessing there's more leeway but I can see how in some contexts stating your religious beliefs could be part of a discussion in RE, political in History etc. I can see that saying "I think that some people have a gender identity that's different to their sex but not everyone thinks this" is a lot more moderate than "everyone has a gender identity".

It is also a bit of a distraction point for pupils though! "Miss, do you believe in abortion?" Is a bit off topic for a French lesson and could be smartly returned to the matter at hand with no answer.

The first (of many) issues is that she’s employed on an agency supply basis so the school isn’t actually her employer.

She may have had her assignment cancelled, but unless she was terminated by the agency she hasn’t been dismissed from anywhere.

Most agency T&C’s also say that placements, including long terms, can be cancelled at any time for any reason by either party, and that the agency reserves the right to cease their working relationship with a candidate.

(I run an education recruitment agency which covers the NE, and can confirm I’ve never employed this particular person.)

If you realised she had 4 warnings and training and advice offered, would that alter your belief at all?

The lesson was about the bombing of Dresden
She was a French teacher covering History

Her lesson plan should never have included Gaza. It should have been about Dresden

I do realise that, as it has been mentioned several times in the thread, that's why I said "it depends on the nature and severity of the previous incidents" in the post you replied to.

So you are not sure she should have been sacked even though she had had 4 warnings and training on her classroom management because you are unsure about the previous incidents she had received warnings for?

Is that correct?

Yes that's right I'm not sure, thats what a tribunal would discover. It's possible that the school discriminated against her based on her views, and the prior warnings were a part of that pattern of discrimination, or equally it's possible that the warnings were reasonable abd she just refused to take them on board.

Do you believe that there is a difference between holding views which she has and expressing them?

That’s very interesting, thank you. I wasn’t aware that this kind of moral preaching was no longer allowed.

Well I for one am glad that schools are cracking down on teachers trying to impose their values on other people’s children HOWEVER, like many, I’m sceptical that this is truly being applied fairly. Teachers in general are left leaning and seem to have gotten away with exposing children to plenty of left wing racism and left wing misogyny without any consequences. It feels like too much of a convenient coincidence that all of a sudden the schools are cracking down on this… but only when it’s a right wing moraliser.

That said, I don’t work in a school and would be genuinely interested if the legislation has actually resulted in a meaningful change in how much teachers share their opinions with children in schools.

Can I ask what makes you believe it's not being applied fairly?

I disagree. This is a modern bombing which she was presenting balanced views on. It's relevant and helps pupils to draw comparisons.

I agree about the abortion comments, she shouldn't have been drawn on that. But it's a bit hard to deny she's maybe a bit interested in Reform if a pupil (who one assumes may also be interested) saw her there. I guess she should have had a dismissive answer ready like "yes you saw me, no we aren't talking about that right now".

So your belief is that it was a good idea for a French teacher covering a history lesson on the morals of the bombing of Dresden to bring up the situation in Gaza to a classroom full of teenagers who probably have strong views on Gaza?

Because I haven’t heard of sanctions the other way. I personally know of a teenager who was groomed into gender ideology when she was under 16 while at school, and then socially transitioned at school and the school hid it from her parent. As soon as she was 18 she was primed and ready to go down the medical route - only then did her parent find out and it was too late to intervene. The family is torn apart from it. She is now a man (kinda). This was a few years ago in all fairness so maybe that doesn’t happen anymore?

And maybe there are sanctions on schools like this but i just haven’t heard about it? are you aware of any equivalents?

So your belief that left leaning teachers are likely to get away with expressing their views at school is based from 1 teenager you know who was groomed into gender ideology?

I'm just trying to understand your belief and the reasons for it

Maybe. If the lesson was the morality of the Dresden bombing. "If the bombing of Gaza is characterised as genocide then can we characterise the bombing of Dresdon in the same way? Discuss".