A Protestant secondary school at an unnamed location was wrong to sack a teacher who had placed photos of himself naked online, judges in The Hague have decided.

The court said the photos were not pornographic and the school had infringed upon his right to freedom of expression by sacking him. The teacher was not given his job back but was awarded €10,000 in damages.

The man began teaching at the school in August 2023 and focused on pupils between the ages of 12 and 15.  At his interview, he told the school he also worked as a photographer and artist but not that his work involved nudes.

After his pupils found the photos online he showed them a film of himself and his partner naked as part of a discussion. The school decided to suspend him, saying its reputation had been damaged, and went to court to have him sacked.

That court agreed that the man could be sacked, not because the photos or film were pornographic but because the relationship between himself and the school had been irreversibly damaged.

However, the appeal court said on Tuesday that while it would have been better not to show the film, the school should not have suspended him on the spot.

By sacking him, the school had not only infringed upon his rights but damaged his prospects of a teaching career, the court said. The man has since left teaching and become a social worker.