Secondary school assistant sacked after posting petition against transgender issues being taught at her son's CofE primary

[TimeLady]

Devoutly Christian secondary school assistant, 43, is sacked after posting petition against transgender issues being taught at her son's CofE primary

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6925837/School-assistant-43-sacked-posting-petition-against-transgender-teaching-sons-school.html

Who looks after HR in secondary schools? The headteacher? Governors? The County Council? I saw a reassurance here yesterday that the bar is high re. dismissal for GC views in academia, but this isn't very reassuring.

You generally aren't allowed to criticise your employer without consequences.

She wasn’t. She was protesting about her ds’s primary. She works at a secondary.

I saw a reassurance here yesterday that the bar is high re. dismissal for GC views in academia, but this isn't very reassuring.

Schools are not academia; headteachers can basically do what they like.

I saw a reassurance here yesterday that the bar is high re. dismissal for GC views in academia, but this isn't very reassuring.

Do you mean you saw a post saying 'this never happens'?

As it does happen. Which is why we are so angry.

I’d like to know what she posted on FB before making any comment. I agree with her right to disagree with the “No Outsiders” project, but if she used homophobic language, that is wrong.

But then again, who decided what was “homophobic”?

Do you mean you saw a post saying 'this never happens'?

It was a post on another thread by someone working in a university HR department, reassuring an academic that GC views are not a reason for dismissal.

I agree though, it's difficult to discuss objectively without knowing the words and context of the FB posts

Is it really possible to be sacked over a Facebook post that was not about your employer?

I live in the states and can’t imagine that being legal over here due to the constitution and the consequences for free speech.

Is it really possible to be sacked over a Facebook post that was not about your employer? It can be - bringing your employer into disrepute. Just the threat of it means that most teachers her do not have much / any social media presence. It just isn't worth the hassle!

I would imagine it happens in the States too. Though maybe her religion would be a perfect 'excuse' there. It isn't here!

Sorry, didn't mean to press post.

She is perfectly entitled to hold her fundamental religious views. She just isn't entitled to spill them across social media without consequence if, in doing so, she causes a bit of a kerfuffle, Which this did!

Homophobia isn't tolersate and all schools have policies that make it perfectly clear that this could be considered gross misconduct!

I assume people have taken exception to her use of 'normal' in quotes to describe gay relationships.

But she raises a valid point about freedom of expression and freedom of belief and along with that is the fact that there are several, one could argue, conflicting protected characteristics going on here - she has the protected characteristic of religion, which clashes with that of sexual orientation.

I still don't see why she should be sacked, though.

If what The Mail has written is her FB post verbatim, I can't see what's wrong with it. She's not advocating violence and this seems to be another step down the totalitarian path we're on. She wrote her own opinion on her own FB page. Not saying I agree 100% with it btw, but can't see why she's not allowed to express it. Seems there was one complaint, if I read that right. One complaint loses you your job.

Don't know what the petition said though, but it is by a Christian organisation. I believe they are still permitted in our brave & stunning new world.

If that is all she has written it seems to be a very harsh response. It seems a muddled decision with no clear grounds given for it. It would be interesting to compare this to previous court decisions where there is a conflict between different views. There is no suggestion in that article that her views have impacted on her work and how she treats children in her care.

They are issues of freedom of speech and it was chilling that the panel said ‘her posts were offensive to the complainant’. There is no right not to be offended. I don’t agree with her views but I am concerned about how the T will be taught in my children’s primary school. I work in education also - am I not allowed to raise concerns?

Most schools in LA control buy in their HR and legal support from the LA. If it is an academy it may still do this or purchase it externally or in house if large enough. The overall decision depends on whether it is an Academy or LA school and how governance is structured but it is usually the schools decision.

Freedom of speech isn’t just about criminal penalties for speech and state sponsored repression. It is also about social pressure, and pressure from employers.

The message this sacking has sent is: if you need work, you can’t say this. Personally I’m not a Christian and I disagree with this lady’s stance on gay relationships. But I think we should ask ourselves: if she isn’t allowed to express her views, how long before nobody will be able to express views that conflict with what our children are taught, including gender critical views?

Freedom of speech has, always, been about freedom to express unpopular views. Mainstream views don’t need protecting.

Any lawyers on here this morning? Does this poor woman have grounds for appeal or compensation? It’s beyond shocking that someone can apparently be sacked for expressing their own opinion on their own FB page. What happened to free speech in this country?

When you work in schools you have to be Uber careful not to bring yourself or employer into disrepute.

She's also going directly against the British values stuff school staff are supposed to uphold and expected to do so by the government.

One of which is tolerance.

So yeah, you can get sacked as school staff if you have far right views, racist views etc etc and you PUBLICLY advertise these.

She will have signed her school’s code of conduct. If she has used homophobic language on a social media account that lists her place of work, this can be seen as bringing the school into disrepute.

She uses the words 'valid and normal' as in they are not as valid and normal as heterosexual relationships. It's not ok at all, but surely she should be worked/retrained first rather than instantly dismissed?

Yellow sun would instant dismissal be a usual approach to breaching this code?

I think that saying gay marriage (and one assumes being gay) isn't 'normal' would be a part of it

What she wrote there isn't really much to do with transgenderism is it? It's mostly about homosexual relationships.

The article doesn’t say that it was instant dismissal- it mentions a disciplinary panel. There would have been an investigation into what had happened prior to her dismissal.