My gut instinct is noooooo. My thoughtful reaction however is that it shouldn't matter what political party, uses the term loosely, a teacher is a member of. So long as they don't promote any individual party to pupils.

I  would say no - it compromises equality and would seem wrong somehow .

Well my first instinct is to say no, certainly not..... but then you get into the *upholding a persons right to their beliefs* issue....  All I can say is that I , personally, would not like any child or grandchild of mine to be taught by someone with those affiliations....

I think they can do as they please aslong as it does'nt effect how they teach, if they started promoting their beliefs of politics, sexual or religion in the class room then I'd have a complaint....

I had this discussion with my Mum the other day as my youngest sister is at Uni training to be a teacher and its a subject that often comes up for her...


I think as a teacher you SHOULD be able to leave your politics at the door and just teach....that's an 'ideal world' perspective though and something I imagine is very hard to actually put into practice....how could you effectively teach a class in an area or enviroment where much of your class is made up of whichever race/creed you resent, without prejudice?


Example....many people I know who live where I used to live are changing their vote to BNP because of the high influx of immigrant Polish/Nigerian/Kosovan into the area and the strain it has put on local services and resources....obviously the schools have taken in a large number of children from these countries too....I imagine it would only cause to affect your politics more as a teacher who votes BNP to be at the frontline so to speak of how areas are affected by population change.


At the same time we are a free country apparently, I really dont see however how these politics wouldnt affect your position/attitude as a teacher.


I dont have a definitive answer...

I agree. It must be hard for somebody upholding very extreme views to teach children of a minority without predjudice. I also agree that thankfully we have freedom of speech and yet, I wouldn't agree with my children being taught by a teacher who holds BNP views.

Please please please please please forgive me if I come across as ignorant, but wouldn't it be the same as asking "Should teachers be members of the Labour/Tory/LibDem/Green/whatever party?" ?

But I agree with the others; teachers would have to be non-partisan when teaching.

But how would we know if they held that view, I never knew my teachers or my childrens teachers political views, well one I did she was predjudiced against my children and my son told her she was being racist....

I think (I might be wrong tho) that the unions and definately within the Uni system 'they' make a point of wanting to know now..

That's the crucks (sp) stonks, isn't it. If a teacher can keep their political affiliation apart from the job their doing, it's not a problem (answer to chazzer socks too   My worry (and obviously it's made the news) is that they can't and then you'd soon enough find out by the way they treat certain children.

No matter how odious the BNP is to most people, it is still a legal political party and people are free to join it if they are that way inclined.  Teachers do not hold politically restricted jobs.  They are professionals and shouldn't let their political beliefs affect their work in any way, so it really shouldn't be apparent to children or parents whether a teacher is a member of the BNP, Communist Party, or Monster Raving Loony Party. 

I agree that it must be difficult for someone with extreme views to teach some groups without displaying prejudice, but the same thing applies to teachers having favourites in their classes.  You can't really help disliking or liking a particular child, but you should never be able to tell how a teacher feels about a child.  If I found that a teacher was trying to influence Growly Jnr with ANY political beliefs, I would be very unhappy and think it was highly unprofessional.

I was going to make the same point cologne. 

I feel instinctively that the individual should be free to affiliate with whatever party of their choice. By somehow ring-fencing certain political beliefs as unacceptable, it plays to a dangerous and undemocratic hand.

If I"m correct in what I believe (and I hope Carport will put me right in this one... hi Carport ) then membership lists of any party are open to public scrutiny. Therefore, if a parent has concerns about how their child may be taught and by whom, they have the freedom to monitor it.

Growly, I agree on the whole, but I still think that the BNP is a special case. A lot of people say they vote for them now because no other party will listen to them, but I think that's a bit of a cop out. I just think you have to be a special kind of person (not in a positive way) to throw your weight behind them.

I would say no.....but that may be more to do with the fact I don't like the thought of anyone being allowed to join. 

To be honest I don't really see what difference it makes? If someone is racist, they will hold those views whether or not they are allowed to officially join the BNP.

I worked for a long time in a school in an area that had a very high immigrant population. In the staff room I was often shocked and dismayed to hear racist comments and attitudes aimed towards the Eastern European students at the school. I have to say though, I never witnessed or heard of any racism in the classroom setting (not from the teachers at least). As someone has already pointed out, teachers are professionals and the vast majority would go out of their way to make sure personal feelings don't get in the way of them doing a good job.

That's true duckypup, but I do think that if they join the BNP they declare that they are willing to defend those views and that, somehow, doesn't fit in with my idea of someone who should teach my child.

I fear that they've become more dangerous, now that they've been forced to allow ethnic minority racists in.

* thumbs through BNP membership list*

I would feel the same way.... and I would feel very uncomfortable working with someone I knew was a member.

A total member?

I think I still have the 'pre ethnic minority racist' members list, somewhere.

  See.... now that would help me feel more comfortable working with them Blizzie. I could just keep reminding myself they're a total member 

With knobs on!

Hi Duckster.  But isn't that the point? There would be a natural process of inclusion or exclusion? We all have to deal with these difficulties about our colleagues in so many ways. I'd have problems dealing with a duck at work!

Oh good! At least we will know who the real racists are!

You'd better believe it.

I could work with a crispy one.

A duck, that is, not a racist.

With hoisin sauce and all the rest.  Sorry, I'll bow out. I've had a drink after a weeks abstinence and it's gone straight to my head.

Snap.

I won't bow out, though.

You just proved my point about dealing with racists at work then!

One of my collegues is a total racist. I don't need a BNP list to tell me he's a total member with knobs on. .....but, he's an amazing teacher, and has in fact been nominated recently for an award for his teaching. He is loved by all the students, English and foreign nationals alike.

If he turned out to be a member of the BNP....does that then change things?


I've very torn on this issue, but I'm inclined to think you should be judged by your conduct in the classroom rather than what political party you belong to.

I never knew that the ducks I used to feed when I was little were first-rate maths teachers

Night cologne  Great thread... hope the sensibles take it over again soon!

OK, I'll try.

It's a difficult one.

I would want all teachers to believe in equality. I would think them slightly less than intelligent, if they had any other view.

There were two ducks sat outside my classroom window today.   I thought I'd been rumbled......

Never read a duck by its feathers Charli!

Quack quack indeed

Xochi!!!!

Does that mean that the students are oblivious to his racist views?

Conversely, my kids have an African science teacher, who really isn't much cop, but is absolutely adored by all students.
In spite of myself, I can't help loving that they all find him a 'legend' and start Facebook groups about him.

Pfft! Wishy-washy liberal thinking! J'accuse! You are a BNP infiltrator!