A Registered Teacher

Publication of Finding and Sanction Following an Inquiry held under Part 5 of the Teaching Council Acts, 2001 – 2015:

An inquiry took place before a Panel of the Disciplinary Committee in respect of a registered teacher on 01 April 2022 and 12 August 2022. The inquiry was conducted in public with the name of the teacher and any associated educational establishments anonymised.

Date of Publication: December 12, 2022

The following allegations were proven:

That the registered teacher,

In advance of submitting the form referred to in allegation 2 below, fraudulently created;
1. a letter dated 26 June 2020 purporting to be from the Teaching Regulation Agency confirming that his induction status was “Completed”;
2. an Induction Certificate purporting to be from the Department for Education confirming that he had successfully completed induction on 23 June 2020;
Submitted to the Teaching Council a Teaching Council form (Form: PPQA-01) entitled Application for Registration and Assessment of Qualifications dated 09 July 2020 and received by the Teaching Council on or around 10 July 2020, and in doing so;
1. provided to the Teaching Council the fraudulently created letter dated 26 June 2020, purporting to be from the Teaching Regulation Agency in England and confirming that his induction status was “Completed” as referred to in allegation 1a above, when he knew that this was not the case;
2. provided to the Teaching Council the fraudulently created Induction Certificate purporting to be from the Department for Education and confirming that he had successfully completed induction on 23 June 2020, as referred to in allegation 1b above, when he knew that this was not the case;
3. falsely completed Part B of the form a part of the form to be completed by the principal of the school(s) an applicant refers to in Part A of the form, and/or in doing so affixed a stamp to this part of the form, or placed an image of what appears to be a stamp on this part of the form, purporting to be from the school where he previously worked (“the school”);
4. falsely completed a part of the form, the certification part of the form, by purporting to be the principal of the school, in that he:
  1. forged a signature for the principal of the school; and/or
  2. inserted a registration number and school name for the school; and/or
  3. affixed a stamp to this part of the form, or placed an image of what appears to be a stamp on this part of the form, purporting to be from the school; and/or
5. falsely declared that the information provided in all sections of the application was true and accurate, when he knew that this was not the case;
On or around 11 August 2020, sent an email to the Teaching Council claiming that he had received an Induction Certificate after liaising with the “Teacher Regulation Agency” and the “Local Educational Authorities“, when he knew that this was not the case;
On or around 21 August 2020, sent an email to the Teaching Council claiming that he had obtained an Induction Certificate from the “Teacher Regulation Agency” when he knew that this was not the case;
On or around 3 September 2020, sent an email to the Teaching Council claiming that he fell foul to a scam from an official and that he believed that the official was from the Teaching Regulation Agency, when he knew this was not the case and/or which was for the purpose of covering up and/or concealing one or more of his actions referred to in allegations 1-4 above;
On or around 3 September 2020, sent an email to the Teaching Regulation Agency in England claiming that he may have been “scammed” by a person, supposedly from the “QTS” section of the Teaching Regulation Agency, when he knew this was not the case;
On or around 8 September 2020, sent an email to the Ombudsman, which was copied to the Teaching Council, maintaining that he may have been defrauded in the manner referred to in allegation 5 above, when he knew this was not the case;
On or around 12 September 2020, sent an email to the Teaching Regulation Agency claiming he may have been defrauded by a person who represented himself to be a member of the Teaching Regulation Agency, when he knew this was not the case.

The Panel found that each of these allegations taken individually and/or in combination and/or cumulatively amounted to professional misconduct. The Panel found that each of these allegations taken individually, cumulatively or in combination amounted to conduct which was contrary to paragraph 3.1 of the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers, Updated 2nd Edition 2016 (“the Code”).

The Panel also found that allegations 2 to 4 taken individually, cumulatively or in combination amounted to conduct which was contrary to paragraph 2.3 of the Code. Following the Inquiry, the Panel of the Disciplinary Committee decided to remove the registered teacher’s name from the register of teachers and decided the registered teacher would not be eligible to apply to be restored to the register, under Section 31 of the Teaching Council Acts 2001 to 2015, before the expiration of a period of three years.

The Disciplinary Committee Panel’s decision was confirmed by the High Court on 3 October 2022 and the sanction took effect on that date.