Anyone looking for a depressing read need go no further than a perusal of the reports of hearings at the Teacher Regulation Agency Teaching standards, misconduct and practice – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) regarding teacher misconduct.

The Agency decisions are ratified by a civil servant called a ‘decision maker’ on behalf of the Secretary of State. The teacher has a right to appeal to the High Court within a limited timeframe following the decision.

 In the period between the start of August and the end of December 2021, the Agency heard nearly 50 cases. Almost threequarters of the hearings were regarding male teachers. This despite the fact that there are far fewer male teachers than female teachers in the profession.

The Agency can hear cases relating to actions by teachers both inside and outside schools where the actions might be deemed unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute and breach acceptable standards required of a teacher as a professional. This included being found guilty in a criminal court or even being cautioned by the police. Teachers can also be working in the state or private school sectors.

The recommendations handed down after a hearing can range from the ‘not proven’ to ‘No Order Made’ – where the publication of the findings is considered adequate admonishment as an outcome, to either an ‘Order’ where after a specific time period the teacher may apply for reinstatement as a teacher or an ‘Order with an indefinite ban’ allowing for no return to the profession and is usually couched in the following terms

“… prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. Furthermore, in view of the seriousness of the allegations found proved against him, I have decided that ….  (named person) shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.”

The teacher’s date of birth is provided and gender can be inferred from the name on the report of the hearing. Where the misconduct occurred on school premises, the school is named in the report of the hearing in most cases. Although in certain circumstances it may be redacted.

Cases seem to fall into three groups – sex related, where an indefinite ban would seem to be the most likely outcome. A very high proportion of the male teachers that came before the Agency were there for behaviour involving inappropriate behaviour. In far too many cases this involved a child that was often a pupil at the school.

The second group of cases involves irregularities either in examination procedures or financial matters. The case of three senior staff at one school involved the latter and the issue of off-rolling and census numbers. Most of these cases seem to result in bans of between two to five years. There seem to be fewer of such cases than might have bene expected although that may be due to the circumstances of assessment over the past two years.

Cases of personal conduct seem to result in an indefinite ban where there is dishonesty in areas such as application forms, but a wider range of penalties where the matter is possession of a Class A drug for personal use or failing to report a relationship with someone on the Sex Offenders Register. Bringing such a person onto school premises may be seen as an aggravating factor.

Panels seem to recognise the challenges of working in settings such as PRUs, especially for young teachers with little support, and the cases where they relate to handing of pupils may result in a ‘No Order’ outcome, but just the possible glare of publicity that might result from the publication of the hearing outcome being seen as sufficient deterrent.

As a proportion of half a million professionals working as teachers these cases represent a very small percentage summoned for unprofessional behaviour. However, the high incidence of cases involving inappropriate behaviour with children does mean that both training in the standards expected is necessary for new teachers, and the recognition by all that any teacher might face situations where they put themselves at risk of losing their professional status and their employment if their conduct falls below an accepted standard.