‘Faith-based discrimination in employment is unfair on teachers and pupils, unnecessary, and in all likelihood usually unlawful’. That is the key message Labour Humanists and the British Humanist Association (BHA) have put across in our joint submission to Labour’s call for evidence on improving teacher quality.
We make comments both on qualified teacher status and the issue of reserving teaching posts in state-funded schools for suitably religious teachers.
All types of faith schools (around a third of state-funded schools), from those under Local Authority control to Academies and Free Schools, have the ability to place religious requirements on teaching positions. In reality, some religious authorities think that they have the right to know the intimate details of teachers’ private lives and to use that information to determine whether they can have a job or get a promotion. Or at worst and regardless of how well qualified a teacher is, use personal information to discipline and dismiss on the grounds that her conduct outside of work is ‘incompatible with the precepts’ of the school’s religion.
We support Labour’s moves to improving teacher quality but if the Party is serious about the value quality teaching it must address the issue of discrimination against teachers in state-funded faith schools.