Strike threatened after teacher is fired for wearing trainers

Teachers are threatening to go on strike at a London secondary school after a colleague was sacked for wearing trainers and tracksuit trousers to work.

Adrian Swain, 56, was fired a week before Christmas from St Paul’s Way, a comprehensive in Tower Hamlets, East London.

The special needs teacher had refused to stop wearing trainers and tracksuit bottoms, which failed the school’s new dress code.

Swain said other staff regularly came to work in “banned items” and that he was being singled out because he stood up for teachers’ rights as the school’s trade union representative.

The acting headteacher who imposed the dress code has since left the school.

Swain said he had worn tracksuit bottoms and trainers throughout his 30-year teaching career and had never before received complaints.

He said his colleagues were pressing for a ballot on industrial action.

He said: “It is clear that this is not about what I wear or what kind of teacher I am. This is victimisation, because I have consistently worked to protect union members against bullying and intimidation.

A spokeswoman for Tower Hamlets council confirmed that a teacher from the school had been dismissed for “continually failing to comply with a reasonable management instruction”.

She said: “Staff in Tower Hamlets schools are expected to set a good example to the students they teach. It’s vital that standards are set in terms of appearance and behaviour, and staff are asked not to wear items of clothing that students are not permitted to wear themselves.

“The decision followed consultation between the school, Tower Hamlets council and trade unions and the member of staff still has the right of appeal.”

Brian Lightman, immediate past president of the Association of School and College Leaders, said many schools had dress codes for their teachers, because staff were role models to their pupils.

He said: “Where a school has a dress code, it tends to be known by everybody and is an agreed policy. What the school dress code is is for the school to decide.”

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