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.

Message withdrawn

I agree - aimimg legislation at teachers is treating symptom not cause. Far better to do what is being done, and show why the BNP party rules are illegal.

firepile - It was one other thread and it was again about keeping political views out of schools.

So it's ok to be affiliated to an organization that campaigns for discrimination if it's religious but not if it's political?

What if you are a convert? Then is it ok to wonder if your dealings with an organisation that treats women as lesser beings is more than just a "cultural expression"?

What if your dad was a bnp member and you are working within the party trying to make it less racist? Then is it ok to be a teacher?

Btw pmsl @ the idea of people within Catholicism "campaigning" to make it better, as though Ratzinger dits down each day and listens to what his people think and takes a little vote on his next encyclical.

Miss Sunny, BNP's policies are homophobic and misogynist too.

What's ironic? Where's the OP? Or is it sockpuppets for now?

firepile - who are you btw, do you have another name? Do you actually contribute to debates or just pop up making baseless accusations?

clemette you can't change the rules because you don't like someone's politics.

All or nothing, is the only appropriate action in a democracy.

But, MissSunny teachers are not allowed to teach such views. If they did they would be disciplined (unless in a faith school). Thus their "freedom" of speech is already limited. You are not, for example, entitled to tell a student that abortion is wrong - if you did you could be sacked.

Joining an extremist party is simply not compatible with professional standards and therfore the issue is not about freedom of speech.

Btw pmsl @ the idea of people within Catholicism "campaigning" to make it better, as though Ratzinger dits down each day and listens to what his people think and takes a little vote on his next encyclical.

Ah I know. All those silly catholic Liberation Theologians pissing their lives away.

clemette - You have just illustrated how the safeguards are already present. Also the GTCE have come out and said that it currently isn't against professional standards to be a member of any political party.

I predict the GTC will change their position based on union pressure.
Also, it will be pretty dangerous for the BNP members to work in this profession without union representation (which is their only option at the moment).

Message withdrawn

Anyone else ever notice how the far left and the far right basically want the same thing? To tell everyone how they should think/act?

It's not just the far-left, it's the whole of the left.

Clemette - The unions and the GTCE are constantly at loggerheads. GTCE may change under government pressure but certainly not under union pressure.

The fact that you say you feel it's dangerous to be a teacher without union representation shows up another problem. All teachers feel compelled to be in unions due to false allegations etc, but many don't agree with the political stance of the unions.

I think they are pissing their lives away, and providing a respectable cover for an extremely dubious organisation.

Their campaigning has achieved nothing, as recent appointments make clear, in fact things are going in reverse.

I've watched my grandmother break her heart over this for my entire life and now she is near the end of her life and feels completely betrayed by the church she thought she could help to improve. It doesn't work that way, the power is too concentrated at the centre.

Really, SomeGuy? I didn't have you down as a leftie

You can think what you want BitOfFun, and that includes thinking that other people shouldn't be allowed to think things. Just don't turn your thoughts into laws.

My name is SomeGuy. I am right and you are wrong. Sponsored by google.

I wouldn't go that far SomeGuy, I just don't see that much difference between the extremes of either side.

The middle ground has always seemed the obvious "happy" place to me.

I love the idea that someone who disagrees with banning teachers from being members of the BNP must be a secret supporter. That's the way McCarthyism worked.

What, I wonder, is the current legal/professional-ethics position on teachers being members of the Revolutionary Communist Party? Or Sinn Fein? both of these are minority political parties with links to violent acts. What about the livelier end of the animal rights movement - some organisations within that engage in illegal activities such as trespass, harassment and criminal damage - could a teacher who was a member of a hunt sabs group be trusted to deal fairly with children whose parents run the local hunt, for instance?
As I said before, I can see a case for banning members of certain professions from joining any political party, but if a political party is legally recognised as such, then all its members have the same rights as everyone else.
(and, you know, a teacher can be a bigot, and engage in subtle or not so subtle discrimination in the classroom, without being a member of the BNP.)

Not the case onager, honestly. I'm happy to chew the fat with loads of people I disagree with on this issue, and I have a lot of respect for many of them, yourself included. I still reserve my right to find this OP dodgy as turkey twizzlers though, they have got a weirdy and suspicious bee in their bonnet about it all in my opinion.

The RCP hasn't existed for over ten years though SGB. I don't recall them attacking anyone either, apart from the usual loony punch-ups with fascists.