Christian teaching assistant loses tribunal claim for religious discrimination against Cardiff school

Martin Shipton

A teaching assistant’s claim that he was harassed and discriminated against by a high school because of his Christian beliefs has been rejected by an Employment Tribunal.

Ben Dybowski clashed with Marc Belli, the headteacher of Bishop of Llandaff Church in Wales High School in Cardiff, after stridently asserting his right to express within the school his views against same-sex marriage, abortion and Islam.

He called Mr Belli “the wokest headteacher he had known”, said he would sack him if he could and covertly recorded Mr Belli as they had a heated argument.

Subsequently Mr Dybowski mounted a high profile media campaign with the help of the right wing Free Speech Union, during which he was portrayed as someone who had been persecuted because of his Christian beliefs.

Training day

In March 2023 the school organised a training day for staff. The focus of the training was navigating conversations where controversial topics may be discussed by pupils. The purpose of the training was to ensure that staff were comfortable and confident about challenging things being said without suppressing the children’s rights to express their views.

Around 150 staff were in attendance at the training. The trainer was covering sex and gender within the Equality Act. Mr Dybowski decided to ask the trainer about his personal beliefs.

He wanted to know if expressing his beliefs could be discrimination and gave examples of his views. Mr Dybowski said his view was that true marriage is a union between a man and a woman, acknowledging that other options are legally recognised in Britain and stating that he could “just about tolerate this”.

Mr Dybowski went on to say that human life begins at conception and words to the effect that “abortion was the murder of innocent life for unborn children”.

Highly charged language

The tribunal judgement said this was highly charged language and Mr Dybowski’s belief was not therefore expressed in temperate terms. It was likely to have caused offence and upset to people attending, in particular but not limited to people who may have been affected by abortion due to rape or health reasons.

Mr Dybowski said he was critical of some aspects of Sharia law but did not say what these criticisms were. He did not, as was later claimed to the media, cite examples such as the stoning of men for homosexuality or of women for adultery.

Mr Belli said he had been particularly concerned about negative comments made by the teaching assistant about gender identity as two non binary staff had just discussed their “lived experiences”.

Mr Belli was very concerned at the turn of the discussion and intervened to end Mr Dybowski’s interaction with the trainer. He spoke to remind everyone of the school’s values.

Following the session Mr Belli was approached by three members of staff raising concerns about what the claimant had said. Teacher C told Mr Belli that the claimant had previously openly spoken of his views against female ordination and that could have been overheard by sixth form students.

Discussion club

Prior to Mr Belli’s meeting with Mr Dybowski on March 24 2023 he was contacted by Teacher A regarding a suggestion by the claimant the previous month that he set up a discussion club.

The school already had a debating club run by qualified individuals. Mr Dybowski had suggested a number of topics for discussion, including whether illegal migrants crossing the English Channel should immediately be sent back to France or their native countries and whether capital punishment could ever be ever justified. The club was not set up.

When Mr Belli met Mr Dybowski the discussion became acrimonious, with the teaching assistant telling the headteacher he was the wokest headteacher he had ever met and that he would sack him, given the opportunity. He said he was being judged as if he was guilty of “thought crime”. Mr Belli told him he was entitled to his views but that they were inappropriate in a school environment.

Mr Dybowski said: “I think it’s ridiculous and I think this is the demise of the West, you know.”

It emerged that Mr Dybowski had previously misgendered a vulnerable trans pupil at another school in Cardiff and had been asked to leave.

The tribunal rejected Mr Dybowski’s claims.