A TEACHER has been suspended from a leading Catholic secondary school in London because he struggles to read or write, it has emerged.
Faisal Ahmed was appointed to a teaching post at St Thomas More Catholic School in Wood Green, London around three years ago after completing his Teach First programme.
Mr Ahmed, aged in his 30s, was recruited for the placement despite suffering from dyspraxia – a developmental disorder that affects co-ordination and movement, making tasks such as reading and writing extremely difficult.
Details of the case, from 2016, have only just emerged after Mr Ahmed sued the school for constructive dismissal and disability discrimination after he quit his post.
However, the former City worker lost his case after the London Central Employment Tribunal threw out his appeal in March.
Teach First – a charity which recruits graduates to schools while they study for a teaching qualification – admitted it did not inform St Thomas More of Mr Ahmed's condition.
Legal battle
Mr Ahmed, a former worker in the City, was recruited by Teach First for GCSE and A-Level lessons at St Thomas More.
But it quickly became clear that he had "extreme difficulty with handwriting", reading problems and issues understanding "written tests".
He was summoned by headmaster Mark Rowland and suspended just a few days into the teaching job, after admitting he could "hardly write" for "more than a couple of minutes" before it became too painful.
Mr Ahmed quit in anger at the decision and attempted to sue the school for constructive dismissal and disability discrimination.
Papers obtained by The Sun show that Mr Ahmed lost his legal battle and subsequent appeal over the 2016 case, with the London Central Employment and Tribunal throwing out his claims last month.
In a statement, Teach First said: "We hold the highest standards for every candidate who joins our teacher training programme.
"Every trainee who is offered a place must have a degree, expertise in the subject they teach and GCSEs in maths and English. They also will have passed the professional skills tests for prospective teachers in numeracy and literacy – which is standard for all routes into teaching.
"Once offered a place in a school, Teach First continues to provide rigorous training and support for two years to the candidate, alongside a university tutor and school mentor. Our training programme has been rated outstanding by Ofsted.
"We have always welcomed applications from candidates with disabilities and additional needs – and work with them, the school and university partners to provide any extra training and support needed to ensure their teaching is of the highest quality."
