Teacher suspended in Ireland for refusing to use prefered pronoun and name

[miri1985]

www.thejournal.ie/high-court-injunction-teacher-westmeath-pronouns-5853324-Aug2022/

And yes he is one of those Burkes (large very fundamentalist family, campagined against gay marriage, prone to take cases but not a great track of winning)

Agreed Believerinbiology. It's worth reiterating that in schools the adult's duty is to follow school policies. Adults who use children to promote their agenda - no matter what is is - are in the wrong.
There's finally a growing awareness of the cynical way in which certain groups of adults have used children to promote the trans agenda (unforgivably in many schools) with the resultant mess of social contagion and children dabbling in age inappropriate issues around their identity and sexuality. We mustn't repeat this by supporting those adults who use individual children to make arguments about their beliefs - gender critical or otherwise. Schools have a duty of care to children and allowing a child to become the centre of a public debate fails in that duty.

It's worth reiterating that in schools the adult's duty is to follow school policies

Not when those policies are batshit and harmful to children. A teachers first duty is to not harm the children they teach

There are ways of challenging school policies and raising safeguarding concerns - publicly using an individual child to do that is not one of them.

FWIW, like most posters on here I'm against schools unthinkingly socially transitioning children - and this is why:

www.transgendertrend.com/teenager-says-theyre-transgender/

There are ways of challenging school policies and raising safeguarding concerns - publicly using an individual child to do that is not one of them

Nobody said that was ok, but your statement was simply wrong. It is NOT a teachers/school workers job to blindly follow every school policy, and I thinkm you know that

Is his family background the most important thing here?

In a way yes, because they are known to be fundamental and anti-everything and this is way more damaging to a genuine GC discussion. Google Burke family Galway.

I got a start when I read your headline, OP.

But, it is complicated by the facts which appear to be

• a child in the school is questioning their gender
• the child and their parents wish them to be addressed by "they" and a new name
• Mr Burke objected to this, in public ...at the school's 260th anniversary (who does that?)
• he publicly admonished the Principal, his boss, and did not desist when the Principal walked away and others intervened
• he was suspended due to his conduct
• following suspension, he attended at the school, claiming that he was there to work or for a meeting

It would appear that there is very little here that relates to the child and their need for care and privacy; and far more relates to the ability of Mr Burke

• to behave compassionately toward the child
• to have a professional discussion with his colleagues.
• and his alleged inability to comply with his suspension while his employer investigated that facts.

I am as GC and frustrated as any- but this is not about transgender activism.
I too am worried that there is a negative side to having GC views associated with anyone who appears to be somewhat intransigent obdurate in general.

Believerinbiology

When he inevitably looses

I am not sure if he will totally "lose" i think it will depend on if the school took full legal advice before they acted.
But I suspect that as they went to the High Court that they did. Most disputes fail on the management not following the correct process rather than on the substantive issue.

I worry that this will be framed as legal support that chosen pronouns must be used and be used to shut down any other concerned parents/teachers questioning the push for social transition throughout the country.

I think that may be an aim, because look at the link:
www.mhc.ie/latest/news/1-2-million-education-fund-supported-by-mason-hayes-curran-llp

Minister of State with responsibility for Community Development and Charities at the Department of Rural and Community Development, Joe O’Brien TD launched the Engage & Educate Fund. The Fund was created by law firm Mason Hayes & Curran LLP and Rethink Ireland in partnership with the Government of Ireland.

So social engineering for the be kind and obey, Rethink, pops up again
www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4617055-lgb-alliance-officially-listed-as-a-hate-group-in-ireland-by-gpahe?page=3&reply=119596593

This family are basically Ireland's Westboro baptists.

www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/four-siblings-lose-challenge-over-ban-from-membership-of-nuig-societies-1.4735759

www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/people-dont-mix-with-them-they-are-kind-of-afraid-a-history-of-the-burke-familys-legal-dramas-41540093.html

My statement is correct. If a school wants to dismiss a teacher then failing to follow the school's policies is the route to gross misconduct / dismissal. It's in their contract and is explicit in the Professional Standards for teachers:
"Teachers must have proper and professional regard for the ethos,
policies and practices of the school in which they teach, and maintain
high standards in their own attendance and punctuality.
Teachers must have an understanding of, and always act within, the
statutory frameworks which set out their professional duties and
responsibilities"
Of course there's* *whistleblowing guidance and specific safeguarding guidance re concerns about senior staff (eg safeguarding allegations against a Head) but that's still set out via policies - individuals can't ignore policies they don't like.

Yes it did @Believerinbiology . I know what you mean about this person. Must have used some descriptor in my post that triggered deletion. Can't recall it now tbh.

The Irish constitution is going to trump school policy. Burke is claiming it’s forcing a belief system, if everybody has to use preferred pronouns. The school policy seems to be based on the 2010 equality act. This may be heading right up to the Irish Supreme Court.

@Cailin66 which sections are of the act are you referring to, please?

This Twitter thread sums it up: twitter.com/deanjohnsonuk/status/1564917539511189505

"He is from the Castlebar Burke family who are a rather infamous Christian Extremist family/cult ... They hold very traditional Christian views, and express them quite aggressively. They believe AIDS was sent to punish gay people. Enoch has published a book about how homosexuals cannot be trusted ... The headmaster asked Enoch to consider discussing the matter in a more appropriate space (remember, Burkes NEVER deal with things privately), at which point he becomes aggressive and chases her around the venue, and had to be separated from her."

So, they share some ideas about same sex attracted people as the NGO that labelled LGB Alliance Ireland as dodgy; a threat to democracy, even. The extremes meet.

True for you @Cailleach1 . The tras always try to smear us by some imagined association with the far right. Yet they share homophobic views with the loony Evangelicals.

I am concerned about the longer term impact on minors of schools socially transitioning them
BUT
this teacher was an arsehole and rightly suspended imo

What polices do schools have in regards to children socially transitioning?

It varies. Too many schools have policies written by self interested adults with zero qualifications in education, child psychology etc. They have accepted the self important "expert in trans" claims and meekly done as Stonewall and other groups insist, removing single sex changing rooms, sports, toilets etc and even socially transitioning some children in secret from their parents with no due diligence. Others are more circumspect and juggle competing needs in the absence of support and guidance from the allegedly responsible adults in Ofsted, the DfE, the government and the unions.
The Cass Report has raised red flags about schools and in the light of the closure of GIDs, it is inevitable that schools will eventually be instructed to focus on safeguarding and the law rather than the demands of adults self invested in "transitioning " children.

Yes, sadly it's no surprise that they're transphobes.

"They have accepted the self important "expert in trans" claims and meekly done as Stonewall and other groups insist."

This school is in Ireland. You do realise it is a different country to that which Stonewall operates in?

I don't think these people support or help the cause of very valid GC concerns. From what I have read they link being gay with paedophilia. Also, Christians happily quoting Leviticus (which they do) to support their bigotry forget that it equally outlaws eating prawns or wearing clothing made of mixed wool and linen.

I was reading about this earlier. Comments are either love him great guy or make sure he's sacked and stays sacked. Wow. Is the Burke family well known? I was reading comments that the family loves attention. Never heard of him.

Exactly.

The wider position is one thing. This family spend their time taking action against any employer or educational institution they come in contact with. They thrive on controversy & frustrating the system. His behaviour towards school management & in particular the school principal is deplorable.

Hearach15

Most likely any policy of this nature would have been done with TENI or BeLongTo.
I can't find any inclusion policy regarding social transitioning on the school website.

MrsOvertonsWindow is correct in what she says here:
Too many schools have policies written by self interested adults with zero qualifications in education, child psychology etc. They have accepted the self important "expert in trans" claims and meekly done as Stonewall and other groups insist, removing single sex changing rooms, sports, toilets etc and even socially transitioning some children in secret from their parents with no due diligence.

They're fairly notorious, this article does a good summary. The only case I can think of that they won was about the Leaving Cert predicted grades, all the other ones they seem to have lost

www.independent.ie/irish-news/meet-the-burkes-suspended-teacher-enoch-burke-hails-from-a-controversial-family-of-evangelical-christians-41952551.html