Teacher Kevin Lister's court case starts today on Tribunal Tweets

[Imnobody4]

Kevin Lister, a maths teacher of 20 years, is taking New College Swindon to an employment tribunal alleging he was fired for not affirming a student's preferred pronouns.

https://twitter.com/tribunaltweets/status/1770010705019711637?t=46yG9nCCclvIz5b4-iq4cg&s=19

Thanks for the reminder

Have to say, KL and no one in the maths dept knowing who the dsl was is an issue 😬

School issue as much as an individual issue

Is KL representing himself? Having started reading the TribunalTweets tweets, the hearing looks like it's off to a rocky start.

In his description of his case on his Gofundme page he says:

'I am litigating in person, to keep costs down, but there are still costs incurred associated with obtaining advice, logistics, etc.
I want to litigate in person to demonstrate to other teachers that the justice system is open to them.'

Although it looks as if he's been getting help from legal professionals behind the scenes.

Bump

Just to say this ET is open to remote observation - send an email your full name and email address agreeing to abide with judge's directives to
[email protected] - request for Remote Observation of 1404223/2022 Mr K Lister v New College Swindon. Response has been very quick.

Anyone watching? What's happening so far?

Yes. It's a bit messier than the one's we've been used to so far. KL is representing himself and is on the witness stand. EJ has interjected quite a few times to cut down extraneous detail (on both sides.) There are not many observers so if anyone has free time the details are above.

I had a quick skim of the tribunal tweets; agree it seems a bit messier, but KL seems to be gaining confidence as it goes on.

Am I right that when he was called up for questioning, he was unable to take his notes with him? That would have rattled me!

I can understand why he didn’t employ counsel - it is getting harder to crowdfund the huge sums needed for these cases and you are putting all your assets on the line for what is often a relatively small payout compared to the cost of the case. If you are near the end of your career and have paid off your mortgage you would be crazy to risk all that in return for a what could be a pyrrhic victory. However, these cases are so important that it worries me that lack of proper access to justice for Kevin may negatively affect the rest of us.

His union should have had his back😡

I'm assuming he was in a union.

His union wouldn't support him.

Is this finished for the day now? And is it continuing tomorrow?

I’m glad to see someone attempting to litigate in person. Eventually it’ll be the only way because as pp said not everyone will be able to crowd fund such huge amounts of money. I really hope this chap is successful as it will give others the confidence to follow suit.

The teaching unions are fully signed up to gender woo so I'm guessing that's why his union wouldn't support him

I thought as much. He's probably got a case against them too.

Yes I hope in future the unions will be able to be challenged for discriminating against their members. There is this coming up soon

Another tribunal (UCU this time) www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/5002140-another-tribunal-ucu-this-time

Due to start at 10am this morning - more info and the TT threads from yesterday on their Substack here: https://tribunaltweets.substack.com/p/kevin-lister-v-new-college-swindon

Makes you realise the importance of professional counsel. It's hard on him that the world is watching. Normally nobody would be interested in a case like this.

Judge is helping KL with phrasing the question (thank goodness)

Absolutely. KL is struggling to keep the frustration out of his voice and CB is ducking and weaving. Professional counsel wouldn't stand for it and so EJ keeps interjecting to try and keep the tribunal on track. It feels very awkward.

Good on him for litigating in person. He is an educated man, used to presenting to a somewhat hostile audience(!) and the law should be open to everyone.

It seems that he tried his best to do everything right, including maximising the student’s chances of being accepted for a female-only maths competition by putting down their correct name. The irony…it just shows that for some it’s a switch that can be flipped at will. Will the student apply for female-focused STEM initiatives I wonder?

Goodness knows what the student’s parents think about it all.

The irony of teaching unions being captured by this misogynistic movement.

Historically, the teaching unions actually opposed equal pay for women teachers. My union was also pretty hopeless when I had a maternity-related issue, which eventually brought about the end of my teaching career.

Plus ca change…

I think in hindsight that since this is the first "misgendering in schools" case perhaps it would have been wise to have representation.

I wonder if this is a case where the manner of how KL has dealt with this issue has actually stepped into being unreasonable. He isn't coming across that well. He's definitely not done himself any favours in representing himself. Having said upthread that I was pleased to see someone represent themselves in person I don't think KL was the right man for the job.