Living Wittily

Should members of the BNP be allowed to teach in our schools? No!

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Maurice-Smith-former-insp-001 The link at the end of this post is to the recent report by Maurice Smith (pictured) that says the prohibition on teachers being members of the BNP would be "a disproportionate response", a "very large sledgehammer to crack a minuscule nut." Right.

The report also suggests there is no causal connection between being a member of a political party, holding certain political views, and the influence a teacher has in a classroom. Oh, and just to be clear, a teacher's politics has no place in the classroom. Right.

Now when I use the word right, I don't mean I agree; and it is not used as explicit (or implicit) moral approval. Actually just to be clear – I am using it with a full measure of West of Scotland irony reinforced by well informed scpeticism, as in the phrase, "Aye right"!

Let's not play silly word games by which we are meant to think that politics and political opinion, political conviction, political judgement, political values are all reducible to private ways of viewing the world. Or that such inner orientations of thought, moral judgement, political vision and social organisation never impinge on how we actually relate to the world and the people in it. Politics if taken half seriously, and a member of a political party should be assumed to take their party's policies and manifesto seriously, politics is the way we describe and work towards the way we would wish the world to be.

And if a person's politics are about a racially based approach to social structures, a narrow definition of nationalism, a resistance to multi-cultural presence, an insistence on Britishness (whatever that is) as critierion of welcome, then there is overwhelming likelihood that such political views will indeed influence the way those people relate to other people. A BNP member who is a teacher in a multi-ethnic school, in a multicultural society, with several asylum seeking children in the class, is not going to pretend, surely, that policies of exclusion which he or she upholds as conviction, somehow do not exist in the day to day dealings with a socially, culturally and racially diverse class. Sorry – I don't believe such convictional conjuring tricks are possible – and if they were they would be even more dangerous for their two faced janus-like deception.

A-viewer-watches-Nick-Gri-001 Quite apart from all the above, education is not politically neutral, and teachers are not politically colourless. A teacher is entrusted with tasks of social education, humane learning, instilling values of civic responsibility, enabling and encouraging relationships of co-operative working, mutual respect and preparation for a life of responsible contribution to our society. I simply don't accept that such a vision of educational purpose is compatible with BNP policies and manifesto statements. And because I believe members of the BNP sincerely hold the convictions and values of their Party manifesto, there can be no congruence between political views and a social vision so wildly out of line with the values of an educational system whose underlying assumptions are inclusive, mutually respectful of cultural difference, and embedded in a civic code that does not diminish the humanity or value of other people on such dangerous grounds as race, ethnic origin, faith tradition, or that morally (and rationally) dubious benchmark of Britishness.

Photo_011307_001 Lest I haven't made myself clear; as a follower of Jesus Christ, a lover of people in God's name, a citizen who recognises the rights and worth of others who come to live amongst us and who believes in a society that is just and compassionate, I think the report is wrong. Membership of the BNP should indeed disqualify someone from teaching in our schools. Maurice Smith the former Chief Inspector of Schools is simply wrong in his conclusions. Worse still, he has produced a report lacking in moral seriousness, for which he has substituted risibly strident rhetoric that makes little reference to the realities of teaching, the ethic of education, nor the responsibility that comes with living in a democracy, of discerning with care the fundamental obligations and human values that ensure real freedoms.

http://news.aol.co.uk/racism-report-backs-teacher-freedom/article/20100312012850152666193?icid=mai

Comments

10 responses to “Should members of the BNP be allowed to teach in our schools? No!”

  1. chris avatar
    chris

    I always knew that my political views were not supposed to impinge on my teaching – but in the early ’80s, when I was (a) very visible in the Peace movement and (b) teaching the children of US navy personnel, it was incredibly difficult. I was always being hauled over the coals for some misdemeanour – even when I had tried to be even-handed. So I think you’re right here.

    Reply
  2. chris avatar
    chris

    I always knew that my political views were not supposed to impinge on my teaching – but in the early ’80s, when I was (a) very visible in the Peace movement and (b) teaching the children of US navy personnel, it was incredibly difficult. I was always being hauled over the coals for some misdemeanour – even when I had tried to be even-handed. So I think you’re right here.

    Reply
  3. Jim Gordon avatar
    Jim Gordon

    Thanks for this response Chris. Thinking more about the issue since I posted it, there’s something I’d want to say more clearly. The issue isn’t about teachers holding political views, even radical ones. It is that teachers are employed by local authorities who are committed to policies of equality and diversity that are simply incompatible with BNP manifesto commitments. It isn’t so much being a member of a political party, but whther that oarty’s policies are compatible with, congruent with, do not essentially contradict, the policies of the local authority paying the salary. That salary comes out of public funds paid for by those who elected said authority to carry out policies that grow out of values inimical to BNP stated values.

    Reply
  4. Jim Gordon avatar
    Jim Gordon

    Thanks for this response Chris. Thinking more about the issue since I posted it, there’s something I’d want to say more clearly. The issue isn’t about teachers holding political views, even radical ones. It is that teachers are employed by local authorities who are committed to policies of equality and diversity that are simply incompatible with BNP manifesto commitments. It isn’t so much being a member of a political party, but whther that oarty’s policies are compatible with, congruent with, do not essentially contradict, the policies of the local authority paying the salary. That salary comes out of public funds paid for by those who elected said authority to carry out policies that grow out of values inimical to BNP stated values.

    Reply
  5. helen avatar
    helen

    Surely if you’re going to ban BNP members from being teachers, then you should ban anyone with any kind of political or religious commitment? After all, Christianity is a proselytising religion. So anyone who considers themselves ‘evangelical’ or ‘born-again’ can’t be trusted in a classroom either…

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  6. helen avatar
    helen

    Surely if you’re going to ban BNP members from being teachers, then you should ban anyone with any kind of political or religious commitment? After all, Christianity is a proselytising religion. So anyone who considers themselves ‘evangelical’ or ‘born-again’ can’t be trusted in a classroom either…

    Reply
  7. Jim Gordon avatar
    Jim Gordon

    Oh dear Helen. Several things in response. I am stating them firmly because I think the issues are too important to be obscured by point scoring.
    First I am not banning anyone. I am stating the basis on which teachers are in fact employed, and suggesting that their contractual commitments are incompatible with membership of a party that is overtly racist.
    Second, Christian commitment of whatever flavour does not set out to devalue people on the basis of race, ethnic origin, religious affiliation or status as asylum seeker. The parallel with the BNP is false, and misses the point.
    Third, any democratic government has the right to draw ethical and socially agreed parameters within which its own publicly funded employees operate. In the case of the BNP, its own manifesto makes it self-evident that a member holding such convictions would be hard pushed to treat all children with dignity, respect, justice and fairness in relation to their race, religion and citizenship status. But we rightly expect such values in ourn teachers.
    Fourth, I fail to see how the sweeping generalisation “any kind of” follows from my straightforward acknowledgement that BNP policies, sincerely held, are incompatible with treating all children in schools with equal respect, dignity and equality of treatment. No other party I know has a manifesto so comprehensively incompatible with a teacher’s obligation to uphold and defend the equal rights of all children, regardless of race, religion, ethnic origin or political status. There are powerful arguments against my position on this – I recognise them and feel their force. But they are not driven by the moral force that is integral to matters of social justice, and the rights of human beings to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of race, religion, colour or ethnic origin.

    Reply
  8. Jim Gordon avatar
    Jim Gordon

    Oh dear Helen. Several things in response. I am stating them firmly because I think the issues are too important to be obscured by point scoring.
    First I am not banning anyone. I am stating the basis on which teachers are in fact employed, and suggesting that their contractual commitments are incompatible with membership of a party that is overtly racist.
    Second, Christian commitment of whatever flavour does not set out to devalue people on the basis of race, ethnic origin, religious affiliation or status as asylum seeker. The parallel with the BNP is false, and misses the point.
    Third, any democratic government has the right to draw ethical and socially agreed parameters within which its own publicly funded employees operate. In the case of the BNP, its own manifesto makes it self-evident that a member holding such convictions would be hard pushed to treat all children with dignity, respect, justice and fairness in relation to their race, religion and citizenship status. But we rightly expect such values in ourn teachers.
    Fourth, I fail to see how the sweeping generalisation “any kind of” follows from my straightforward acknowledgement that BNP policies, sincerely held, are incompatible with treating all children in schools with equal respect, dignity and equality of treatment. No other party I know has a manifesto so comprehensively incompatible with a teacher’s obligation to uphold and defend the equal rights of all children, regardless of race, religion, ethnic origin or political status. There are powerful arguments against my position on this – I recognise them and feel their force. But they are not driven by the moral force that is integral to matters of social justice, and the rights of human beings to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of race, religion, colour or ethnic origin.

    Reply
  9. chris avatar
    chris

    Thanks for this further elucidation, Jim. It provides a counter to a piece in the Sunday Herald by Muriel Gray – a piece which I felt to be missing something, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It’s a terribly difficult one, but then so is the job of teaching. The older I get (and the further from the classroom) the more I feel the responsibility placed on teachers.

    Reply
  10. chris avatar
    chris

    Thanks for this further elucidation, Jim. It provides a counter to a piece in the Sunday Herald by Muriel Gray – a piece which I felt to be missing something, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It’s a terribly difficult one, but then so is the job of teaching. The older I get (and the further from the classroom) the more I feel the responsibility placed on teachers.

    Reply

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