Trainee may face discipline hearing over school row
A STUDENT teacher could be sent before a disciplinary panel after he spoke out in support of the teacher at the centre of the Batley Grammar School scandal.
The Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) trainee is reported to have said he ‘would not hesitate’ to use images of the Prophet Muhammad in a classroom in a message to his course leader.
He is said to have told MMU he was ‘extremely concerned’ about the ‘cowardly response’ from unions and other teaching bodies.
The Daily Telegraph reports that his message urged MMU to stand up for trainee teachers who find themselves in a similar position to the Batley teacher, who has been under police protection and forced to live in a safe house since an angry protest erupted outside the North Kirklees school.
But instead of support the MMU student is now to face a ‘fitness to practise cause for concern meeting,’ which could then escalate to a formal Fitness to Practise Panel disciplinary.
MMU’s head of teacher training told him it could be a breach of Teachers’ Standards - which include upholding ‘public trust in the profession.’
The concern ‘specifically relates to the Prophet Mohammed’ due to ‘particular sensitivities’ around drawings of him, the student was told.
The student teacher called the response ‘ludicrous and humiliating.’
MMU’s response has sparked fury among supporters of free speech and of the Batley teacher.
The Free Speech Union said: “It is absolutely ludicrous that a trainee teacher could be barred from teaching for supporting the Batley Grammar School teacher over the Mohammed cartoons.
“There is no blasphemy law in England, nor should there ever be again.”
An MMU spokesman said: “We look at all cases on their individual merits and in knowledge of the full context around a particular issue, and then take a course of action that is relevant and most suitable to deal with that specific issue.
“In this instance, it was thought best to have an initial discussion with the student about the potential impact in a primary school environment of the suggestion that he would be happy to share imagery which would be upsetting to people of a particular faith.
“We believe the discussion with the student was positive and constructive and we await further feedback from him before deciding whether any further steps are required.”