To think that banning teachers from being members of the BNP is outrageous!

[londonone]

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8112747.stm

Now I abhor the BNP and their policies however they are a LEGAL political party and as a teacher I would find it appalling that my freedom to join legal political parties was being curtailed.

If the establishment believe the BNP to be that abhorrent then they should make them illegal. If a teacher acts in a racist, sexist, homophobic way AT WORK, then discipline them on that basis.

If BNP membership is to be banned then what about the SWP, some would say they are as extreme.

clemette - way to go with your witch hunt! Are you proud of the fact you seem to have driven someone from their position based on their personal views? Unless of course she has let them affect the way she carries out her role in which case no doubt disciplinary action will be being brought against her.

Someguy: There are wankers on every board of governors. Bullying wankers are quite normal too. These bullying wankers were Muslim. Some bullying wankers will be members of the BNP. Many will certainly be racist.

You seem to be trying to say "This cases teaches us X about Islam!" which I find quite offensive TBH

Fanbloodytastic post asana .I hope to have brought up my children to hear everyones views and understand that that is all they are just views. A child isnt going to be swayed simply because a teacher has membership to a certain political party ,i was taught be a couple of staunch tories in the sixth form and im a bleeding heart liberal .

They are a political party based on hatred of people who are not white.

I don't mind real political parties, I don't care if a teacher believes in higher taxation, more public spending, banning private schools, increasing child benefit, higher road tax, privatising the NHS, going to war in Afghanistan/Iraq, pandering to the US - ie actual political and economic policies. I strongly object to teachers joining a party that denies the Holocaust, idolises white supremacists and treats women like dirt.

londonone ??
The teacher in question feels that she cannot teach the CURRICULUM (she teaches PSHCE) and that if she can't teach it as it stands then she may need to teach in a faith school where aspects are suspended.

I only used her situation as an example of how, sometimes, beliefs are incompatible with teaching. I would hope that BNP members would realise the same (though somehow I doubt it)

It is her decision. I am not sure whether to be flattered by the amount of power you think I exercise in my professional life!

Not bad BitOfFun I only come out to play when I see people in need of a stern talking-to

Bitoffun - You sign up to religion as much as you sign up to a political party!

er no you don't

there are not exactly many people working with the BNP to make it a fairer and more just organisation

whereas this is quite normal within many religious organisations i.e. a very broad range of opinions across the political spectrum

I think it is disgusting to say so and so can not join the party of their choice.

I am sure that it infringes some human rights somewhere along the line.

which was my point bitoffun.my whole family are roman catholic,and as i said i wasn't trying to have a go, i was pointing out that you could just as easily infere these beliefs on a practising RC because they are openly supporting a group which has commited these crimes and through the collection plate are funding them financially. if we are to start banning people based on their beliefs it's a dangerous road to go down. and if we were to take religions as an example, by being a memebr of one it could be pre-supposed (and lets be honest only logical) that the person agreed with their beliefs and teachings. because who would join a religion that they didn't agree with or believe in that would be stupid.
so the govt. start by banning all members of the BNP because we don't like their beliefs. the next group in power then decide the catholics homophobic stance is unacceptable and any open members of the catholic church could not possibly be trusted to treat homosexuals fairly.and on and on it snowballs because we can point to something in every religion or political party which if carried into the classroom could prejudice a teacher. and one of the main tenants of our law is that it must be able to be applied universally. so either ban all open members of legal political parties or religious groups or ban none of them. but allowing the government to cherry pick which ones are acceptable and which ones are not is just a recipe for disaster.

I think it is disgusting to say so and so can not join the party of their choice.

I am sure that it infringes some human rights somewhere along the line.

I think the rights of the children outweigh the rights of the teacher in this case.

< snurk > @ asana

clemette - I misunderstood the phrase "considering her position" implied to me that she had had her position made difficult by others.

morningpaper - I don't think anyone joins a rel;igion to change it, you follow a religion because you share it's beliefs.

Within the tory party there are many shades of opinion, same as the labour party or the greens or even the BNP

Yes, the inalienable right of children to only be taught by people of whom the incumbent party approves.

"mayorquimby perhaps we should then abolish the requirement for a daily act of Christian worship at primary schools. Most schools don't do it but it is still statute. "

i'm not familiar with it but if it's as self-explanitory as it seems then yes, as a christian i'd have no problem with it's abolition. i support multi-cultural soceities so fail to see why one religion should get preference.

Someguy: There are wankers on every board of governors. Bullying wankers are quite normal too. These bullying wankers were Muslim. Some bullying wankers will be members of the BNP. Many will certainly be racist.
You seem to be trying to say "This cases teaches us X about Islam!" which I find quite offensive TBH

They had an explicitly Muslim ideology and were from an explicitly Muslim institution - i.e. the local mosque.

They certainly represented Islam in Woking insofar as anyone can represent a religion.

My point is not so much about their behaviour but that it is clear that such people, whose motivation is the Islamicisation of schools, clearly represent a greater threat to children's education than BNP supporters. But the council were too scared to do anything about it. Do you think Surrey County Council is unique in this respect?

Children's education were badly damaged in Woking by an attempted Islamic takeover - what steps has the government taken to stop something like this happening again? The answer is none. So why are they still obsessing about the BNP?

MQ- religion is very different though- it's a cultural expression as much as anything, and usually handed down in families in a way that joining political parties isn't (although voting patterns often get passed on, political activism doesn't). So joining the BNP implies a significantly higher degree of "belief" and approval than going to 8 o clock Mass every morning to get a merit badge at school (ex-Catholic here too!)

If it's a legal party you can't ban people from being members.

It would be very wrong to ban anyone from joining a party unless you banned them from joining any party. As others have said if the BNP was banned that would be another matter.

If you don't believe that teachers can leave their personal beliefs at the door then you have to remove all religious teachers too, since many have sexist and homophobic rules.

If someone acts racist in a classroom then sack then and never let them work in a school again. If they try and sneak in religious propaganda do the same thing.

skidoodle if your child's teacher was a skinhead with a tattoo of a swasitka on his neck would you still think it was OK? Or would that not be about the incumbent party (or parties as they have all condemned the BNP. As have the UN. But perhaps they are also self-serving liberal incompetents...?

Asana, on a point of clarification - the reason why I and others suspect that londonone is softselling for the BNP is not based on this thread alone - there have been other threads in which londonone has acted in a similar way to legitimise the grievances of the BNP.

And let's not forget that all we know about any poster on here is what they say about themselves...

I think it needs to be an "all or nothing" rule. Either you can be a member of a political party and be a teacher, or you may not be a member of any party and teach.

Bitof Fun - ironic you consider religious beliefs to be something cultural, passed down from parents and something alomost automatic and joined without thought whenn you yourself are an ex Catholic!!!

no and i accept that, and i am religious. my point was not that all roman catholics believe and agree with the things i said. and i accept that for many christians their religion has become very passive.
my point was simply that by actively worshipping at an RC church, you are actively and openly supporting a group which has these beliefs,even though i accept that many don't agree with large parts of them. and simply that if we open up this floodgate of banning a legitimately recognised legal political party from certain professions what is to stop the exact same logic being used against others when the next govt. decide they don't like a certain group religious or political.
which is why i used the example of someone attending mass because it is an pro-active move in the same way as joining a political party is a pro-active move rather than just agreeing with their beliefs or being born into a religion but not practising.
i'm not trying to equate the RC church to the BNP i'm trying to equate what i believe to be the dangerous logic of allowing a legitimate political party to be treated differently from others on the basis that the party in power don't agree with their views.

Or, you can be a member of a party that doesn't preach hatred...?