Teacher wins claim after accusing staff of ‘ blackophobia’

A PRIMARY school teacher who accused colleagues of ‘ blackophobia’ after they claimed to be too scared to use the word ‘black’ around her for fear of being accused of racism has won a claim of discrimination.

Andrea Mairs lost her job of 20 years after six fellow staff claimed her ‘relentless complaining’ about racial issues in the classroom had left them feeling ‘ intimidated’, an employment tribunal heard.

Ms Mairs once objected to a visiting magician referring to pupils as ‘little monkeys’, which resulted in references to monkeys being banned from the school.

Library books and art displays were removed and the nursery and

‘Relentless complaining’

reception classes stopped singing the song Five Little Monkeys, the tribunal was told.

In June 2019, one month after Ms Mairs was found to be ‘performing well’ in an observation, members of the school’s senior leadership team launched a collective grievance against her, insisting they were too ‘afraid to use the word black’ in her presence and feared being victims of ‘vicious allegations’ of racism. They threatened to strike if she kept her job.

Ms Mairs eventually took almost a year off sick, and was sacked in January 2022 due to the breakdown in relations with colleagues.

After her dismissal, she sued Trafford Council and the school governors for unfair dismissal, race discrimination by victimisation, unauthorised deduction from wages and breach of contract – all of which were upheld.

She joined Kings Road Primary School in Stretford, Manchester, in 2001. The Liverpool tribunal heard she was a ‘good teacher’ and students and parents ‘doted on’ her. But during her 20 years there, she is said to have raised complaints about nine colleagues and flagged several incidents she viewed as ‘micro-aggressions’.

On one occasion, she complained about a photograph in an art display showing a black student wearing the label ‘blackcurrant’.

She was also asked to work on Black History Month, even though the school had a dedicated history co- ordinator. Ms Mairs felt that asking a black teacher to deliver black- related content was a ‘micro-aggression’.

While she was on sick leave, a Bring Back Miss Mairs petition gained 800 signatures from parents and past students. It stated: ‘It is vital that as the only black teaching member of staff she returns... she is a great teacher.’

A hearing to set her compensation will be held at a later date.