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RE teacher who posted anti Muslim comments on Facebook struck off for “unacceptable professional conduct”

RE teacher who posted anti Muslim comments on Facebook struck off for “unacceptable professional conduct”

Categories: Latest News

Monday November 07 2016

BBC News and The Guardian report on a teacher of Religious Education who has been struck off by a professional conduct panel for posting anti-Islam messages on Facebook and attending a protest organised by the far right group, Britain First.

Nicholas Hall, 53, who taught at the Soar Valley College co-educational secondary school in Leicester was probed by the National College for Teaching and Leadership panel. Hall was probed in relation to a number of complaints including “allowing 12- and 13-year-old pupils to watch an 18-certificate film, accessing pornography on a school laptop, failing to take appropriate action when a pupil acknowledged taking drugs, and working as a security guard while on sick leave.”

The panel heard Hall had posted a number of comments evincing an antipathy for Islam on Facebook. The NCTL highlighted some of the comments such as “what a sick religion Islam is” and “we will leave them alone when the plague of Islam is [eradicated] from our planet […].”

Hall was also challenged over his attendance at a protest organised by the far right group Britain First.

The panel concluded Hall’s remarks amounted to a “vociferous attack on the Islamic faith”, adding that there was evidence he had attended a number of rightwing events and had shown “vehement intolerance” towards people of other faiths.

The NCTL panel found Hall had breached his responsibility to uphold “fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law … and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.”

BBC News notes the panel ” found no evidence of any insight or remorse from Mr Hall in respect of his actions.”

Hall was found guilty of “unacceptable professional conduct” and of “conduct which may bring the profession into disrepute”.

He was disbarred from teaching at any school in England “indefinitely”.

The NCTL’s investigation into Hall’s conduct follows a three year ban imposed on a BNP affiliated teacher last year for anti-Muslim comments made in the classroom. ‘Reverend’ Robert West was the subject of a NCTL inquiry into his conduct after making comments about being “allergic to Mohammedans” and saying “Muslims worship the devil” to a classroom of pupils.

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