In thinking this is a bit didgy

[Losingitall]

A friend of mine working as a teacher part time in a catholic school for 4 yrs.

A ft job came up and he applied.

1 of 4 short listed.

He did not get the job due to lack of experience. Instead they have appointed a newly qualified teacher fresh out of uni.

The dodgy bit - the head asked him why he had ticked "atheist" on his app form as the governors didn't like it!

Now 1stly is it even legal to ask the question? 2ndly seems mightily dodgy to me!

Arghhh reinfirces my belief that religion should have FA to do with education.

BOE - you know I never thought of that! Could well be the reason too...

YABU

He's a good enough teacher for him to get a pt job there and hold it for 4 yrs
Maybe true, maybe they think he is doing an OK job but would not be up to full time.
Maybe the NQT has been doing his placement in a RC school.
Maybe the NQT is a better teacher.
Maybe the NQT is the cheaper option.
Maybe your friend is upset he did not get the job and is looking for a reason outside of his control. It is hard when you are rejected at interviews.

No, I disagree SK - if he was a bad teacher then he would never have been shortlisted in the first place imo

And if him being an athiest was a problem, he wouldn't have been shortlisted. This would surely have been on the application form.

There may well be another reason.

If you look at adverts for RE teachers in Catholic schools most state that you MUST be a practising Catholic to apply. This is not the case for most other subjects but still preferable.

geegee - it's not illegal to discriminate on the basis of faith in faith schools. It happens all the time.

The Catholic Education Service website (www.cesew.org.uk/standard.asp?id=11059) has an explanation on how it works. Note that it applies to voluntary aided (VA) schools, not voluntary controlled (VC) schools, so in other words it's more likely to happen in a Catholic school than a C of E one, as Catholic schools are usually VA.

Here's the relevant bit from the website:

In VA schools which have a religious character, the governors have extra rights in relation to employing, appointing and dismissing members of the school workforce. The governing body may give preference to persons;

· Whose religious opinions are in accordance with the tenets of the religion of the school;
· Who attend religious worship in accordance with those tenets; or
· Who give, or are willing to give, religious education in accordance with those tenets.

In considering dismissals, the governing body may have regard to any conduct that is incompatible with the precepts, or with the upholding of the tenets, of the religion of the school.

Preference can therefore be given to practising Catholics in appointments to teaching posts and also in non-teaching posts where there is an occupational requirement which is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

I've never seen an atheist tick box on a form.

Was it the "equalities" form thing that so many places have?

If so then they always say that answers are confidential and only collected for monitoring purposes and will not form part of the selection process in any way.

So if it was that sort of form YA definitely NBU and what they have done is a breach of something or other.

OTOH if it was a general question on the form and it's a religious school then what do you expect. And yes it is wrong and yes the whole religious state schools thing is no good IMO but that's a different conversation.