Institute Update Issue 2 - May 2002

Christians welcome rewording of professional teachers’ code

By Rachel Woodward

The Christian Institute is delighted that the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE) has responded to Christian concerns by making substantial changes to its professional code.

The original draft code required teachers to “fully respect differences of” – among other things – “sexual orientation”. The GTCE began consulting on the draft code in May 2001.

We produced a briefing, Cut the Clause, which showed that this would require teachers to promote gay rights. Christians respect people as people, but no Christian teacher would be able to sign up to a professional code that requires them to respect behaviour which conflicts with biblical morality.

Director of The Christian Institute, Colin Hart, said: “The code has been revised in a number of ways, and although we remain concerned about some issues, we believe it is now possible for Christians to follow it without compromising their beliefs.”

“The biggest change is that the code has been stripped of its formal legal status. This is great news. It is now only an ‘aspirational’ document rather than a statutory code of practice.”

“We have only two remaining concerns: First, the word ‘prejudice’ remains in the code. The GTC maintains that the context is that of equal opportunities but we are concerned that the word could be taken out of context and interpreted subjectively.”

“Second, any statement by a regulator is important, and although the code should not be used by employers to act against teachers, we think it may be. While the danger has been reduced, we will continue to be vigilant.”

“Although we never saw the need for Clause 5 of the code, the rewording of the paragraph no longer presents the difficulties it did. We are grateful for the way the GTC met with us and discussed the issues. It has listened to Christian concerns and acted. More has been achieved than we dared hope for.”

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