I posted here on the dismissal of David Muritu from his job as a Maths lecturer at Halesowen College just before Christmas. At that point three further members were also facing disciplinary proceedings. All three have now been sacked.
There’s some interesting analysis of these latest developments here:
The College management’s reasons for the sudden firings remain unclear. They point to the apparently poor performance of the lecturers, despite the fact that their performances were above the national average, and the College itself rated all four as ‘good’ teachers in its own internal observation system. Management also accepts that there is no case for gross misconduct for any of the Halesowen Four, and they also failed to follow both their own disciplinary procedure and that of ACAS, the work disputes mediations body.
The sacked teachers themselves speculate as to their role in highlighting a number of issues which had made their work increasingly difficult, such as “refusal to pay for specialist cover (in spite of a huge surplus) for times of long term sickness and paternity leave, teaching in two different classes in two different rooms at the same time [and] groups being pushed together into one room even though they are supposed to be covering different material”.
It certainly seems unlikely that the four teachers – having received Grade 2 ratings when observed, in a system that has been criticised for its readiness to give Grade 3 ratings (average) – were targeted for being exceptionally poor, or indeed that removing them from their posts midway through the academic year (mid-term in the case of three of the four) will actually assist in the education of their students.
David Muritu has written a strong piece about his experiences. He concludes:
What I think is being recognized is that if employers are allowed to flout disciplinary rules and sack staff seemingly at will then there are terrible implications for all of us.
