The Hague Court of Appeals has ruled that a former teacher from a Protestant secondary school should not have been suspended after showing pupils a nude film of himself and his partner.
According to the ruling, it’s a matter of freedom of expression, not pornography.
From artist to teacher
RTL reports that the teacher joined the school on a trial basis in August 2023, teaching art to children aged 12 to 15.
The school knew that he used to work as an artist and photographer but didn’t know that this work included nude shots of the teacher and that these images were posted online.
It comes as no surprise that the students found these photos and shared them with each other.
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The teacher then tried to get the situation under control in an… unorthodox way.
He talked to the students about the photos and proceeded to show them a film that included him and his partner in the nude.
First trial
The school was not impressed with this pedagogical approach. They immediately suspended the teacher after the incident and went to the subdistrict court demanding dismissal.
The first ruling sided with the school, although it claimed that it didn’t consider the man’s actions to be pornographic.
The court ruled that it was okay that the teacher talked about the nude photos with his students. As for the film? It wasn’t as serious as the pictures, anyway.
READ MORE | Nudity in the Netherlands — what’s the deal?!
Still, the trust between him and the students had been irreparably broken, the court ruled, so a dismissal was in order.
Win on appeal
However, the teacher decided to appeal against the ruling — and won.
The court focused on whether this was a matter of artistic expression and decided, yes, it was. However, it still ruled that the teacher should have shown his students the film.
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The second ruling determined that immediate suspension was too severe a punishment and that it could “have a “chilling effect” on other employees, who may therefore become hesitant to express their own opinion.”
The man will receive €10,000 as compensation but has decided to leave the drama of a teacher’s life behind — he now works as a social cultural worker.
Do you think the suspension was too harsh? Let us know in the comments!
The Netherlands looks like it has to import any woke nonsense from the US.