CONTRIBUTORS
Personal or professional: employment law update
Education Today hears from NAOMI HOWELLS, Managing Director for recruitment specialists, Class People.
A school in Fairford has received a ruling from The Court of Appeal that a gross misconduct dismissal was unlawfully discriminatory. The Court has ruled that the decision to dismiss a teaching assistant for criticising plans to teach about LGBT+ relationships in primary schools was unlawful, despite the original complaint that the teacher in question was homophobic and prejudiced. The case, which
progressed to The Court of Appeal first via an Employment Tribunal and then via an Employment Appeal Tribunal will prove concerning for many senior leadership teams. It’s certainly a timely example of the need for employers to balance the rights of employees to express personal views outside of work, and how and when those views should become permissible for consideration in a school environment. Safeguarding is naturally a number one priority for schools, and this case is an interesting one. Kirsty Higgs, who was employed as a pastoral administrator at Farmor’s School in Fairford, shared two posts on Facebook relating to her views on LGBT+ teachings. The comments linked to the teachings about LGBT+ relationships at her son’s Church of England School, rather than Farmor’s School where she actually worked. The posts referenced “brainwashing” children and “suppressing Christianity”. Her employer Farmor’s School then received a complaint citing that Higgs had expressed “homophobic and prejudiced views”, ultimately leading to her dismissal as a teacher. Higgs in turn brought claims against Farmor’s for direct discrimination and harassment on the grounds of religion or belief. The Court of Appeal ultimately ruled that the two Facebook posts shared by Higgs weren’t sufficient for the school to justify dismissal.
For me, this case highlights the importance of consistently applied school values, as well as recruiting staff with a good cultural fit. Teachers are people-first and not just employees, which means that they can, and have a right to, express views on any subject they choose. Whether they should express those views, or not, is of course another matter. Where it becomes a legal or disciplinary issue is when the views affect professional conduct; fundamentally conflict with the school’s values; offer safeguarding concerns particularly linked to prejudice; or affect the reputation. Even then, the scope of any discipline will vary depending on the context and severity of the views expressed, and whether they have an actual impact in the school setting. The key is balancing respect for personal beliefs with providing an inclusive, safe, and fair education for all students.
Further security can be offered through employee onboarding, training, and supporting documentation such as handbooks, which can offer fair, clear, and legally compliant information. It can set expectations for aspects such as the separation of personal and professional duties; the level of neutrality expected in curriculum delivery; levels of tolerance for discriminatory or extremist views; and even conduct on public sites such as social media platforms. This approach can help protect both the individual and the school, protecting them in instances such as these.
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Breaking the cycle of negativity
Gareth Conyard of the Teacher Development Trust looks on the bright side of the teaching profession
There is no doubt that there are some significant issues in teaching at the moment – a recruitment and retention crisis, funding pressures, the significant challenge to meet the needs of children with SEND, unmanageable workloads – and it can feel like a very negative picture. Indeed, against the backdrop
of what can feel like an increasingly unstable and hard to navigate world, it can be hard to avoid feeling overwhelmed, to feel like it is impossible to see a way to make things better. That is likely to be one of the reasons why teachers are leaving the profession, something that I have heard many times anecdotally. To some extent it has always been thus. Around 10 years ago, during my past life as a civil servant at the DfE, I managed the relationship between the Department and the education unions. As preparation for the role, I began to explore the work of teaching unions in my local area – Lewisham – and I remember being shocked at how negative so much of the language was. Of course, the unions have an important role to play in highlighting issues around teaching and I should make clear I have a huge amount of respect for many of those working within education unions (indeed, I co-authored a book with Nansi Ellis, a former senior union official), but the way the experience of being a teacher in Lewisham was portrayed felt extremely uncomfortable.
A few months later I attended my first union conferences and I remember being struck by an impressively nuanced debate on teacher pay. The conference motion under discussion was challenging the government to reverse the trends around the relative decline in teacher pay. One contribution has stayed with me. It was from a deputy head from the South West who, whilst agreeing with the motion, also wanted to highlight that her salary put her amongst the highest earners in her particular village. The point she wanted to make was that we have to avoid being too insular when thinking about teacher pay. And of course, now, looking at pay relative to other professions is a key argument for increasing pay.
My point is that we are all collectively trying to walk a fine line between highlighting the very real issues in the profession that need addressing – issues that are contributing to struggles around recruitment and retention – whilst also being clear on why teaching can in fact be such an amazing job: the privilege of nurturing future generations, the utter joy of helping a child to a new level of understanding, the camaraderie of working in a school with a positive culture, and, yes, the benefits of working in a career with above average starting pay and clear progression routes.
So many careers lack these opportunities and we all have a responsibility to celebrate the positives in the profession as well as to state what needs to improve if we want to ensure that the wider public perception of teaching reflects the realities in the classroom.
March 2025
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