Adrian Swain is a long-standing teacher at St Paul’s Way Community School in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, where the majority of pupils are of Bangladeshi origin and senior managers are determined to break a strong National Union of Teachers’ (NUT) school group. Rumours have abounded that the school had become a prime target for an Academy with the appointment of an Interim Executive Board replacing the previous governing body.
After more than three decades of teaching in what most of us would regard as tough inner city schools in Newham and Tower Hamlets, Adrian is at risk of the sack before the Christmas break. Despite being an exceptionally effective maths teacher at GCSE level, management have targeted Adrian, a NUT rep at the school, for the ‘crime’ of wearing trainers in defiance of a new, recently imposed dress code that the headteacher (herself a Goth outside the classroom, who will be departing after the autumn term) has implemented without consultation with the union.
St Paul’s Way is an unusual school in many ways – its frequent NUT group meetings regularly attract more than 30 teachers. Adrian was instrumental in building both a mass walkout of pupils and teachers in opposition to the Iraq War in March 2003 and solidarity action by teachers in support of this July’s strike by UNISON members. During the strike the school witnessed one of the most vibrant picket lines anywhere in London as some 60 teachers and UNISON members joined the picket line in the face of management threats.
From day one of the current school year Adrian had decided to take a principled against the imposed dress code and continued to wear his usual footwear. Others have been dragged in for alleged violations of a dress code that has been enforced with arbitrary inconsistency, but to date only Adrian has faced formal disciplinary action, which could culminate in his dismissal.
The vast majority of teachers and non-academic staff support Adrian, with nearly 100 signing a petition to demand that St Paul’s Way management drops the disciplinary proceedings and a strongly worded motion from the school group going forward to the borough’s NUT branch. At first glance this dispute may seem a ridiculous waste of time and energy, but fellow teachers recognise that this is not an argument about Adrian’s sartorial sense. The proceedings against Adrian are at the heart of a more general offensive on the union group with management trying to blame the NUT and individual teachers for the school’s shortcomings.
Most teachers in Tower Hamlets belong to the NUT, where the local branch (the East London Teachers’ Association - ELTA) is widely regarded as among the most left-wing in the country. Its secretary, Alex Kenny, is among the key activists in the dominant left grouping in the union, the Socialist Teachers’ Alliance. So you might have expected a substantial campaign in support of a leading representative at a well-organised school now in the firing line. Unfortunately, however, ELTA has so far failed to rally to Adrian’s defence.
At the association’s October meeting a resolution from Adrian’s school group fell on a tie vote after Alex Kenny and members of the Socialist Workers Party opposed the motion. Some opponents argued that there was a contradiction between waging a fight over national pay – since effectively abandoned for this year – and backing Adrian in the dress code dispute. A sad irony of the meeting was that if members from St Paul’s Way had not turned up in force it would have been inquorate, which would have rendered it powerless to adopt resolutions to submit to the union’s annual conference.
Since the ELTA meeting Alex Kenny has stated that he would do his “utmost to defend Adrian” . While these words are welcome, the perceived lack of support from the association’s leadership can only bolster management’s confidence in pursuing Adrian while weakening the determination of St Paul’s Way teachers to defend their representative.
The good news, however, is that Adrian’s dismissal is by no means a foregone conclusion. He retains considerable support within the school group, while management has also breached procedures along the way.
• Please send letters of protest as a matter of urgency to: Ms Lorraine Page, Headteacher, St Paul's Way Community School, Shelmerdine Close, London E3 4AN.
Please send a copy of any letter to ELTA branch secretary, Alex Kenny – email alex@elta.demon.co.uk or write to ELTA, Shadwell Centre, 455 The Highway, London E1W 3HP.