Kemi Badenoch letter to OFSTED re Rye college

[LurkingInTheAtrium]

Key paragraphs:

"As you will be aware, the UK courts have ruled that gender critical beliefs – the belief that sex is biological and immutable, that people cannot change their sex and that sex is distinct from gender-identity – are classed as a philosophical belief worthy of respect in a democratic society and are therefore a protected characteristic under section 10 of the Equality Act 2010. Through her behaviour, including her assertion that the pupils’ beliefs were ‘despicable’, my view is that the teacher was not acting in a way consistent with the Equality Act’s requirements upon schools, nor in accordance with Ofsted’s Education Inspection Framework’s requirements to promote respect for the different protected characteristics as defined in law.

In addition, by apparently teaching contested political beliefs as fact – including that there are ‘lots of genders’ or that ‘gender is not linked to the parts that you were born with’ – beliefs which are both politically controversial and have no scientific basis – it appears to me that the teacher was in breach of the political impartiality requirements set out in Articles 406 and 407 of the Education Act 1996."

Go Kemi!

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-from-minister-for-women-and-equalities-to-the-ofsted-chief-inspector?

This is why it's so important that people understand that lack of belief in gender ideology is protected under the Equality Act.

I think that people are gradually starting to feel more confident in calling out the denouncement of non-believers as unlawful now - the more this is pointed out to teachers, employers, trainers, etc wherever it occurs, the more awareness spreads around the fact that gender critical beliefs are actually protected.

I believe that once it becomes more well-known that it's ok (and protected) not to believe in gender ideology, the penny will drop that gender ideology must therefore be a mere belief too.

Thank you Kemi and well done to the two 14 year old girls in writing their letter, speaking up for themselves and other girls whose rights to privacy and dignity have been taken away.

Why is she writing to Ofsted, rather than the teacher's regulation agency? It's not Ofted's job to deal with individual breaches of professional standards (which I agree this was).

FWIW, I don't think this would be enough to meet the threshold for TRA sanction; it's for the school to train this teacher in basic biology and the law (and possibly disciplin them, depending on context).

None of the guidance, awful incorrect and illegal as it was/is, told teachers that if young students in their care disagreed they were despicable and should be told so.

This. The individual teacher in question behaved incredibly poorly (at best).

@happydappy2 An excellent point! I feel a polite letter asking if she'd consider a follow up letter to the prison service right be in order

My MP is well up for Trans activism unfortunately.

I see what you're saying and I suspect it could potentially be a school regulation issue as well as a teacher regulation issue.

However, I think it's important to appreciate just how many times these teachers may have been told (by various sources, including formal "training", informal conversations with other staff who have also received the training, the media, other students, society at large) that expressing gender critical views is illegal under the Equality Act and transphobic.

This is a very common belief, as we know from the many teachers (and others) who have come under fire for expressing gender critical views. So while I agree that no teacher should ever be speaking to a pupil like that, I think it's important to appreciate that our society has been groomed to view gender critical views as akin to Nazism, hence the strong reaction from the teacher.

To reiterate, I'm in no way condoning her appalling and unprofessional behaviour, but I think it's right to view this in the context of school management in the first instance because of the wider cultural context, and then it's for the school to explain whether they condone that behaviour, condone the sentiment but not the language used or don't condone it at all.

It would be interesting to know how the school handled the teacher's escalation of the girls' "bad behaviour" to senior management.

I keep asking myself if I'm brave enough to raise it at work.

I've been made to feel uncomfortable about the 'opinions as facts' elements so many times but never brave enough to say, "um hang on"

Don't get me wrong: the failure of the government to provide guidance on this has definitely left schools in the lurch and there certainly are odd schools that are full on TWAW loons but in my (substantial) professional experience of this issue schools are certainly not wasting money on crazy stonewall training for all staff- most are just muddling through dealing with kids as individuals.

The instituational capture is much more focused on SS, helathcare and charities than schools directly. It's from these agencies that schools take their lead.

There is no evidence of any specific problem at this school- the issue is one teacher being recorded bullying a kid for not sharing that teacher's religious views.

It is completely inappropriate for a government minister to interfere with an operational matter in this way. Their job is to sort the big picture out so this shit can't happen.

There is no evidence of any specific problem at this school- the issue is one teacher being recorded bullying a kid for not sharing that teacher's religious views.

It is completely inappropriate for a government minister to interfere with an operational matter in this way. Their job is to sort the big picture out so this shit can't happen.

I agree with that if we're talking about an individual teacher issue, but given that the school has backed her and essentially suggested that she was trying her best in their statement to parents yesterday, it seems quite clear that her behaviour occurred because of a school-level problem.

Thank you Kemi!

they have been left to do this entirely on their own
And got it horribly, horribly wrong. I'd keep quiet if I were them.

Barton's organisation have hidden their trans guidelines. The NAHT (Headteachers) have also hidden their batshit version. Ofsted have now left Stonewall. The senior civil servant in the DfE who did so much to promote Stonewall & fund these groups has been sacked (not for that of course)

The whole fucking lot of them are knee deep in pronouns, boys in girls showers & changing rooms, drag queens and socially transitioning children in secret from their parents. None of them spoke up for the need for political impartiality. None of them prioritised safeguarding over the demands of organisations with a vested interest demanding that undressed girls validate unhappy boys. None of them spotted that only the courts can remove parental rights but cheerfully enabled the lie to be accepted that schools can keep secrets from parents.

Their level of complicity and cowardice is immense. And we should all be fucking furious with them all. 😡

👏 MrsOvertonsWindow

I really get upset that so many workplaces subject people to this shit.

I had to do it about a year and a half ago. They hired this 30 year old consultant to train the staff about how to behave and what to think. I was sitting there thinking, you are 30, no experience in my sector, and have some nitwit university degree. I'm middle aged, politically engaged, have a philosophy degree, and work at this every day and am generally seen as giving really good service. Why the hell do you, or my employer, think you are in any position to teach me about ethics or ideology?

My husband who is a civil servant has it worse though, they are constantly giving them new training, because the standards have changed. As in, every 6 months. I am sure it is part of some make-work initiative.

I've read their letter, they didn't say that at all. There was no defence of the teacher's nonsense.

Absolutely

Most parents had no idea a teacher would feel it’s the norm to speak as the one recorded did

Unfortunately, quite a lot of schools have had training delivered by organisations which have swallowed the Kool Aid, push their agenda as fact, use outdated or offensive terminology about gender, such as ‘ cis’ in their scripts and deny gender-critical aka biologically-realistic views. There are also staff who have been accused of misgendering by parents and students. I do not condone either what was reportedly said to the pupils or how the teacher communicated her views but Badenoch’s party have swerved the opportunity to provide clear guidance on the topic for years, allowing the void to be filled by ‘training providers’ who present opinion and ideology as sacred vows and anyone who wants to debate this issue as a transphobe.

agree with that if we're talking about an individual teacher issue, but given that the school has backed her and essentially suggested that she was trying her best in their statement to parents yesterday, it seems quite clear that her behaviour occurred because of a school-level problem.

I haven't seen the statement. Where is it?

Whoop! Go Kemi.

It was published on the school's website.

Having re-read it, donquixote, I do think that perhaps I interpreted as being more supportive of her than intended, so apologies if I misrepresented that.

It just struck me as a far cry from the kinds of letters a school sends when there's an incident where the teacher is clearly in the wrong and where the school make that clear. Plus, I took their silence on their judgement as to the incident itself and the very vague language used, in addition to their call for government guidance, as indicative of the fact they don't blame the teacher for what happened.

To me, the letter seems to read like the teacher's actions weren't surprising, given the lack of guidance the school has received, as opposed to reassuring parents that it was an isolated incident that the school is confident it can contain. But I appreciate others may read it differently.

It's rock and hard place form their pov as KCSIE specifically mentions peer on peer abuse including homophobia and transphobia.

Teacher may have been responding with that in mind.

Agree with point up thread that using term despicable isn't acceptable though some teachers may be in the habit of doing so for some things.

The way that teacher spoke though, she absolutely believed the bs fake science she was 'defending.' Their response is on the fence due to KCSIE.

Interesting they've asked for parental input?!

I think that letter from the school is crap. No apologies, no acceptance that their staff member has overstepped or reassurance it won't happen again.

Interesting they are seeking parental views. The cynic in me says they are hoping to get lots of support from parents on this so that they can argue they are 'serving their school community' who all believe in catgender.

@MrsOvertonsWindow so well put! They really need to smack out of the stupid stupor!
Those girls sounded so much more articulated than the teacher!
👏👏👏👏👏