Teacher fired for wearing trainers

Special needs teacher Adrian Swain was fired from his job in east London for wearing trainers and tracksuit bottoms to school. Of course he was! And quite right too!! I read this article in disbelief and almost choked on my muesli when I read it this morning (I have now calmed down considerably and feel able to write about the madness of it in a reasonably controlled manner).

I think that Adrian Swain is a confused idiot. He is not a pe teacher. He wore tracksuit bottoms and a pair of trainers to work. He didn't - and clearly still doesn't - see anything wrong with this. So he lost his job. Even if dressed in the correct attire, he is not the sort of person who should be responsible for a room filled with impressionable minds. How can he justifiably enforce school rules on the students in his care when he is not willing to comply with the reasonable expectations of his employers? My opinion is that he simply cannot. He is a moron and, assuming that the decision was not taken summarily and that he was given opportuninities to make the required changes, he deserved to lose his job.

If his claim that "he wore tracksuit bottoms and trainers to school throughout his 30-year teaching career without any complaints" is accurate and is neither bluster nor exaggeration, then frankly I am astounded that he was allowed to do so over such a prolonged period of time. Did other people not notice? I go to work in a shirt and tie every day, without exception, and would not consider doing otherwise. In addition to the fact that my job requires me to dress smartly, it sets a great example to my students. If I were to roll in with jeans and a pair of trainers, or perhaps a football strip, people would notice. Immediately. I would expect to be asked to refrain from doing so in the future. If I were to then turn up wearing a tracksuit, for example, I would not be sursprised to find myself in a spot of bother. As a matter of fact, I am equally shocked that he was able to hold down a job of any description for this length of time, such is the clear extent of his stupidity.

This clown Swain then goes on to say that "other staff have regularly worn banned items." What kind of school is St Paul's Way? And why are the staff not dressing appropriately for work? He uses the word "banned" and is therefore fully aware of the fact that he is breaking the rules. It is ludicrous! I am amazed that they have the audacity to call a ballot on industrial action in some sort of protest. Expecting teachers and other adult staff members to wear appropriate clothing is neither bullying nor intimidation and these muppets do not have a leg to stand on. Perhaps they are worried that they will no longer be able to saunter in on a Monday morning wearing pyjamas.

Hopefully they will all be sacked and then they can join unemployed Adrian Swain in wearing whatever the hell they like as they lounge about on the sofa watching daytime telly while the rest of us put on decent gear and head off towards paid employment.