No. But. Neither do we want Liebour, LibDem, Tory, Greens...
So ? So if it be legal for all the others to be in our schools it should be legal for the BNP.
No fears, no favours.

Surely it is "incompatible" with a free society to ban someone from becoming a teacher or a school governor because of the political party they support?

I don't want my nephews and nieces taught by someone who propagates lies and ignorance, but the BNP are, rightly or wrongly, a legal political party. As long as this remains the case, I don't really see what anyone can do about it without opening up a can of worms.

With regards to school governors, perhaps efforts would be best spent encouraging more "ordinary" people to take up those positions. Where I grew up, governor positions were dominated by upper-middle class types who championed all sorts of motions that would benefit their children at the expense of poorer pupils. Obviously, we can't ban Tories from our schools. Labour should be making a determined effort to get their members elected to governing bodies.

Getting back to the Adam Walker, another overlooked fact is that this idiot is mindlessly regurgitating talking points picked up from the press. How can we reasonably suggest banning BNP supporters from anywhere while newspapers are untouchable in their promulgation of misleading hate stories?

If David Cameron does pursue this, it'll further expose his (and his coalition partners') approach to civil liberties. If the left pursue this, it'll again position them as the anti-freedom, thought-police, "ignoring public concerns" brigade.

Of course, we all know that is not a fair representation at all. But, as the right-wing press has shown us time and time again, you don't need to be clever or correct to shape people's opinions.

YES we certainly do want BNP TEACHERS in our schools.Education is very important especially HISTORY LESSONS. Our culture is also important and should not be forgotten.THE BNP is a legal party SO leave them alone and let them do there job. STOP these exaggerated hate stories every one has a choice and an opinion of there own democracy

Sam, you honesly believe that
the majority of British people are going to sit by whilst our government give the vast majority of jobs to foreigners whilst we are going through a huge recession,
At the same time chopping away at our free speech, 500,000 new immigrants given British passports each and every year, not to mention the growing problems we are facing with islamism?
Something as got to give and believe me when I say, just as the PVV (Geert Wilders freedom party) gained a huge stride towards winning the role of government in the netherlands, the same is going to happen here in the UK very soon, with the BNP, people are waking up and seeing what's going on.
Yes you are right I remember, the 90% stats is well off aia believe it was something like 97% reported and cited by several sources.

You miss the point.
Anyone who works in education knows that it's hard to attract and retain qualified teachers and usually the only one who apply are the graduates who are poorly qualified.
When there is a shortage of teachers you cannot ban people because they are BNP members.
Beggars cannot be chooser

No, I think you'll find that's the number of *new* jobs, a subtle difference there - in reality the number of jobs that are being done by a foreigner is not going to be anything like that high, there simply aren't enough of them here for that.

Addressing all your other points, your first question implies that the only options available to the British public are to (a) be completely apathetic or (b) vote for a narrow-minded bigot. In reality the majority of Brits are somewhere in between, and most realise they're not going to have to resort to supporting a sick organisation. I share your concerns on freedom of expression, and think the BNP-ophiles are the biggest threat to that and similar freedoms in this country: in power they would restrict many forms of religious expression, the burka, and the building of mosques. I think the problems with Islamism are for Islam to sort out for itself. I don't really mind who gets a British passport as long as they qualify for citizenship, why would you?

Geert Wilders has got a lot of popularity but it's stretching logic too far to assume what happens in the Netherlands is going to be reflected in the UK. There are big differences, the equivalent party over here is generally seen as an outcasts party, and always has been, so you can't compare the two. This "waking up" you refer to seems to be all in your head and not borne out by facts: in reality their popularity peaked at 944,000 votes in the 2009 euros just as the expenses scandal was turning people away from mainstream politics, and has recently fallen to just over half a million in this year's GE. In fact I'd hypothesise the exact opposite, that the BNP-ophiles of 2009 have indeed had an awakening and realised quite how odious their policies are whereas previously they'd naively assumed they were simply voting for a tighten-up-immigration-laws party.

I don't know if Adam Walker is racist - you can't equate opposition to high levels of immigration to racism. And anyway racism doesn't seem so bad when you compare it to the mass murder of over half a million people generated by the Labour Party which lying to drag the UK into two illegal wars. Now if my kids were being taught by a Labour Party supporter - that would be a real cause for concern.

I was very pleased to represent Adam Walker for three years at the GTC and to ensure that he got a fair hearing. In the end the case was decided on the evidence. That evidence showed that Adam was a good teacher, who improved grades, treated people from all backgrounds with respect and was a positive, life-changing force in the lives of pupils. Many were so moved that they sent testimonials to the hearing or wrote to local newspapers.

Yes, he did criticise some immigrants but not all. He criticised people he saw as taking part in violent crime while enjoying the protection and hospitality of our country. Was he wrong to call rapists and murderers "savages" and "filth". He is a man of strong passions and speaks from his heart. Yet he expressed his views under a pseudonym on a local debate forum and never sought to embarass his School.

Shoud members of the BNP be allowed to teach? I say "yes". We live in a democracy and people have the right to freedom of belief, association and expression. These are fundamental Human Rights. Yes, they are qualified in certain circumstances. Society has to have a pressing social need to qualify these rights. I do not see that there is one. Those who want to ban BNP members from teaching and negate their Human Rights have made a poor case so far.

http://www.solidaritytradeunion.net

Dave Wood makes an interesting point. Surely you would need evidence showing that beliefs compromised your professional behaviour though? Otherwise you would just be making assumptions. In the case of Adam Walker the evidence was that he was a good teacher who treated his pupils fairly and with respect.

I did not find it hard to provide testimonials on behalf of Adam Walker. One pupil was so moved that she wrote to a local newspaper. Here is what she said:-

"I am a 14-year old student at Teesdale School and I am writing to you about a story that you have recently published on supply teacher Mr Walker.

Although I am Eurasian and Mr Walker is being accused of 'racism', I have not once been treated unfairly or even differently by him. It was really quite the opposite: Mr Walker and I got on tremendously. I would also like to point out that his wife is in fact Japanese, and he spent many years living in Japan.

When I came to the North East, my headmaster at my previous school in Yorkshire warned me that there may be racism here. He was right. Children at school regularly call me P*** and N*****.

But yet, Mr Walker, who has treated me with respect, is the one who being accused of racism, and even worse: being put in the public eye for it.

So what would happen if all the children and their parents who have called me racist names in the past were to be put in the newspaper?

Should not the kids be threatened with expulsion from the school, and their parents be threatened with being fired from their jobs, as Mr Walker is being threatened with being fired from his job? Their actions have proven them to be racist, whilst his actions have proved the opposite.

I know nothing of Mr Walker's politics – and nor do I care, as long as he is a good teacher and treats the class accordingly, with respect. He is a good teacher, there is no doubt about that, and my class-mates and I feel that he is being unfairly victimised.

I hope that he will be allowed to continue teaching, and if so, I hope he comes back to my school".

I went to a school where left wing teachers regularly forced their views on the pupils. This included telling sixth formers to vote Labour, attacking our armed forces despite the fact that some pupils parents were serving, pro republican comments during the troubles, trying to make pupils ashamed of British culture by lying about historical facts and deliberatly ignoring racist and anti semetic comments made by some Muslim pupils. I therefore find it incredible that the left wing teachers unions and the NS talk about BNP discrimination in schools.

What they are actually saying is that left wing teachers are fine but right wing teachers must be sacked. True totalitarianism wrapped up in anti racist clothing.

freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, War is Peace.
George Orwells dicription of Labours Britain.