newteacherstalk / Alan Newland Blog

Articles from newteacherstalk

These blogs address a wide range of legal, ethical and moral issues for teachers, especially those new to the profession. They are intended to provoke thought and discussion, so feel free to respond to the author with comments of your own or raise questions. That would be welcome.

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Social camouflage harms children’s moral development

Recently I was working with some primary school teachers on how you can teach fundamental British values – democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance for those with different faiths and beliefs. My session focuses on positive interpretations of those concepts - encouraging understanding of and commitment to civic – not nationalistic – values; principles that protect our rights and enable us all to flourish in a spirit of community and inclusi

How can I look other headteachers in the eye?

At the time this photograph was taken in 1979, this man was the only (though not the first) black head teacher in Britain. His name was Clee Griffiths. He died yesterday aged ninety-six. He was extraordinary for many reasons, not least because he was loved by all those who came into contact with him – as pupils, parents and teachers. In this country, nearly all of his career was spent teaching in the London Borough of Hackney, where for many years he was the head teacher of M

Want to promote harmony, religious tolerance and inclusiveness in school? Not if you’re Jewish, thanks.

Teachers who are NEU members at a school in Bristol joined with a local Palestine Solidarity Campaign group to prevent a Jewish Labour MP – Damian Egan - from visiting a school in his own constituency by staging a demonstration. Some teachers planned to wear Palestinian keffiyehs if Mr Egan attended and claimed his banning was “a victory for safeguarding”. We can’t explore the Israel-Palestine debate here – it’s far too complex - but we can explore whether this incident is

An LGBTQ poster offends a religious student. They want it removed from the school corridor. What do you do?

I met a headteacher last week who told me that a student at his school had asked for a poster that promoted the rights of LGBTQ students to be removed from a corridor, arguing that the poster was offensive to his religious and cultural beliefs and sensibilities. I don’t know exactly what the poster said or depicted, but it would be interesting to weigh up the issues involved. First of all, I defend the right of all people to express their chosen identity, including a sexual o

Jewish people are under attack. What are we, in the teaching profession, doing about it?

It would be a national disgrace if black children attended school in daily fear of physical attack. It would shameful and intolerable if children at Muslim schools had to regularly practise emergency escape drills in the event of attacks by far-right thugs. I hope there would be an outcry against such a situation. I also hope that the outcry would be led by members of the teaching profession. However, we are indeed tolerating such appalling scenarios. The only difference is

Are teachers allowed to get angry?

A teacher was banned from working with children after telling a Muslim child that “Britain is still a Christian state…” and gave a lecture to the class about the King being the head of the Church of England. He was suspended and later sacked for the incident in which he allegedly admonished students for washing their feet in sinks in the boys’ lavatories. The primary school teacher, who had been employed at the school for three years, was referred to his local safeguarding

What if Dr Aladwan was a teacher?

An NHS doctor who has been accused of celebrating the October 7 attacks on Israel wore a necklace with the number seven to the medical tribunal she was summoned to appear at, in Manchester recently. Dr Rahmeh Aladwan, appeared in front of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) accused of anti-Semitism and creating social media posts glorifying the proscribed terrorist organisation Hamas. She arrived at the hearing wearing a gold necklace with a number seven motif a