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A TEACHER AT a primary school will receive compensation over comments made about her son’s sexual orientation.
The Equality Tribunal ruled in favour of the teacher, who took a case against the board of management of a Church of Ireland primary school in the west of Ireland.
A learning support and resource teacher said she was discriminated against because she was not a practicing Church of Ireland teacher and because her son is gay.
She started working at the school on 1 November 2006. She said there was an ongoing issue with comments made by the principal relating to religion and her son’s sexual orientation.
The teacher said the principal, who denied the allegations, remarked that a “normal boy” would not spend an afternoon shopping for clothes.
She noted that at a valedictory service held in the local secondary school, her son made a humorous reference to being gay. During the speech he was wearing a pink blazer, something the principal is reported to have raised in the national school the following Monday.
The teacher claimed the principal said the speech and her son’s attire were not appropriate and she also questioned what kind of mother she was to have a son like that. She added that the principal was critical of her son, saying he was gay in a church setting. She said a colleague told her about the principal making similar comments about her son on other occasions.
Catholics
The teacher said the principal also criticised the behaviour of Catholics in church, calling children of Church of Ireland faith “our children” and the “right people”. On another occasion, the principal allegedly described two families as having no breeding and the complainant attributed this statement as referring to the fact they were being Catholic.
The teacher also said the principal spoke about the negative effect on a local secondary school (where the principal’s daughter attended) of Catholics joining the school.
She had worked for some time in schools in London before returning to Ireland. She had an adaptation period within which she was required to acquire an Irish language qualification. She had not obtained this and her entitlement to work in a national school was then restricted to resource teaching roles.
She said she had consulted with the Department of Education about her position and had also liaised with the school. The tribunal notes that she had been “very upset to receive a telephone call in early May 2013 from the principal where she was accused of not having done her probation, of getting the school into trouble and that the complainant should never have been employed at the school”.
The principal said she was shocked to receive a letter of complaint on 17 September 2013. She said she had never discriminated against the complainant and had sought to include her at all events involving the school.
‘Tricking her way to a contract’
The teacher became entitled to a contract of indefinite duration after four years of service.
On the 20 May 2013, when she had returned from an absence of two weeks, she said the principal accused her of “tricking her way to a contract of indefinite duration and that she wanted a person of the Church of Ireland faith in the role”.
She said the school had “a cold atmosphere where she was repeatedly undermined by the principal when she would say that complainant had not completed her probation”. She said she had not been required to do probation in Ireland as she had done so in the UK.
The chair of the board of management outlined that she and the board were not aware of the issues encountered by the complainant, noting that once they found out, in September 2013, they “reacted as best they could”.
Speech
She said the principal had been very upset at the contents of the speech made by the complainant’s son at the valedictory service in relation to comments made about the principal’s daughter, a fellow student, who was mocked for being the daughter of a farmer.
The chair said the principal did not think it was appropriate for the complainant’s son to describe himself as “a genius and gay” in a speech delivered in the church.
The chair said that she did not feel that the speech had been appropriate, in particular the comments made about fellow students.
Redress
In respect of redress, the teacher said she was looking for an acknowledgement that what had happened to her was wrong and sought no financial compensation. The tribunal noted that, in the ordinary course of events, this case would attract “a significant award of damages”.
The ruling officer said an award of €3,000 is merited, and ordered all staff and members of the board of management participate in training on equality, discrimination and harassment.
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Sectarianism, bigotry, homophobia and a general us and them mentality still alive and well in ireland i see. Principal should be removed from his post if he can’t be a good human being how can he teach kids to be.
Well your equality poster is just laughable after that comment
Cormac – it is only correct that she should now be disciplined. It would serve the teaching profession well too. Your take on equality is just bizarre Cormac, she is an educator who has been found to have described a child as ‘abnormal’ on account of the fact she seems to think he is homosexual.
Explain yourself Cormac, enlighten us all with your intelligence and we may learn something?
You assume “he” fergal . I can clarify its a “she”
It would take to long to enlighten you Stephen . You might get back to me at about 4.30 today when you are fully awake
Cormac – is it acceptable for an educator to call a child “abnormal”? Is it acceptable for an educator to call a homosexual pupil abnormal?
Cormac shys away I see.
It’s not acceptable to call anybody abnormal but in this case he was not her student not a student of the school therefor not a pupil calling a person abnormal in any form is not acceptable but unfortunately still happens. I sat through 6 months of maternity appointments with a big sticker on my maternity file saying abnormal foetus, after there were concerns about my baby!,all he had was a cleft lip which has been fixed and he is perfect in every other way. As humans we should avoid using the word abnormal when referring to one and other. I can’t put into words how that word makes me feel.
Disturbing to find sectarianism as well as homophobia still alive and well. Principal sounds like a total snob to be honest.
I’m against people being overly politically correct….however, any person in a senior position in any organisation should be aware that the words they use can be upsetting to others. I find it incredible that with all the training out educators get, and hopefully having a small amount of common sense, that remarks like this would still be made. We are indeed a funny nation, on the one hand we vote in favour of equality for our gay brethren and yet people will jump to defend this school principal.
€3,000? Principal sounds like a bully. Can’t see him learning any lessons here.
He has a black mark on his book, for being bold and may not get another job as a result?
It was a woman
Did anyone actually read the article?
Yawn.. everyone is too sensitive these days
You’ll get compensation for almost anything these days.
You did read the part where she asked for no compensation
And still got it hence “you’ll get compo for anything these days”.
Joe – do you think it is acceptable for a teacher to describe a pupil as abnormal? Do You think it is acceptable to describe a homosexual as abnormal?
Female principal
The fact that she didn’t get her Irish language qualification in the time frame specified shows that he was right to say she tricked her way in to a contract. I’m not defending what he said about her son, but people are entitled to their beliefs. He didn’t call him any derogatory names that could be construed as homophobic. He voiced an opinion that gay people hear every day. I hope she didn’t use her son’s sexuality and the principal’s dinosaur attitude as an emotive defence against her own breach of trust on the Irish language issue.
That’s socialism for ya p
As a principal she should have been well aware of her right to get a permanent contract after four years. Anyone in a position of authority should be supportive of their staff, although I am aware this isn’t always the case.
Patrick from my reading of the article both persons involved are females, not males.
The teacher did not trick her way into a contract of indefinite duration. Any employer who does not know or understand employment law and the entitlements of workers is responsible for the worker obtaining a contract of indefinite duration in these circumstances. In the first instance this responsibility lay with the Principal (and then the Board of Management) who having failed to discharge it then blames the teacher. Risible.
I thought it said the Principal was male. Sorry.
No worries Patrick. The article is somewhat confusing but my other points stand!
Love the way this was spun by the media this Morning
Go on then, defend the bigot and explain why an educator labeling a child as “abnormal” is acceptable to you.
Person said that they did not make the comments
And a tribunal found that they were lying. But sure you know better because you read a short article on the Internet.
Plenty of people witnessed the comment, her denials afterwards make her unfit to be principal and a good Christian she must be?
While you are there ,Fin/Lin/Cormac – what do you make of the comments by the new master of the Rotunda that women carrying babies diagnosed with fatal foetal abnormalities should not have to travel to the UK for abortions ?
Never Abortion in this Country
Oh is Cormac Lindabar???
He is ..
It was just as bad in catholic schools. On P.E day we weren’t allowed wear premiership jerseys or else we’d have to sit in the classroom, teachers didn’t want “foreign games” in the school. A fair few kids in the class were often singled out because they had rips or tears in their uniforms and made a show of by the teachers. I remember one child being told he should be taken off his parents as they were raising an idiot, we’re talking primary so under 10 years of age. This was the nineties in Dublin by the way
Sounds inhumane Nigel.
Ever consider writing a script and having a film made of your schooldays.
A Greek tragedy along the lines of Angela’s Ashes.
Hollywood execs would be banging your door down to make it.
That wasn’t the point I was making. I was saying that type of bullying goes on everywhere. Then again I had it light compared to people who were “educated” by catholic priests who used schools as hunting grounds for little kids.
Check out the Muslim school in Clonskeagh and its dress policies. Its alive and well today too
The principal should be fired and all schools should be taken over by the state. The fact that the principal was making these remarks about what was a teenage boy at the time is quite simply beyond belief.
I wonder if the Teaching Council or the INTO has anything to say about this?
Political correctness gone wrong…..
Why is that Patrick. School principal, an educator, a teacher describes a young boy as abnormal because she thinks e is homosexual. How on earth is that acceptable in your world?
Which makes him “abnormal” the pink jacket or being gay??
Give the money to the homeless of Athlone.
I take it you will be making a €3,000 donation yourself too then.
I’m proud to say that this would never happen in a Catholic school.
The true religion.
http://www.tjos.ie/news/teacher-asked-homos-job-interview-awarded-compensation/
No, the Catholic Church schools would never discriminate.
You obviously didn’t go to a catholic school Oran.
Try moving from the Uk to an irish catholic school at 8 yrs old, Oran, you’ll see plenty of discrimination!!! I still shudder when I think of one particular
teacher back in the early 80′s.
Pink blazer?
What colour were the pants?
Risky move there if his pants and shoes didnt go exactly it would have been a disater
Wasn’t that the standard uniform for St. Endas?
I see I wasn’t the only one who assumed it was a ‘He’ until it said ‘She’, interesting that…
Seems to have been more about the means by which this teacher acquired a Contract of Indefinite Duration than about homophobia. People should be aware that today, principals have very little autonomy in selecting the staff for their schools – most have to be picked from the list provided by the supplementary panel. Might explain why it’s getting harder to recruit principals for schools.
Boy goes to C of I church in pink blazer, tells everyone he’s gay and then doesn’t like the negative attention he gets…..right….
You do have a natural talent for over simplifying everything, Tony.
I feel so lucky that we have an equality tribunal in this country. We are so amazing. I just love quality. Equality for everyone. Yeaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Tense shifts for indirect speech. Semantic range of the continuous present of the verb to be. No? Why am I asking? It’s the journal. Great app, crapp writers.
She was also discriminated against because she did not have the required qualification in the Irish Language, ridiculous, time this changed!
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