Cases & Press Reports

An irrational anomaly in the publication of decisions by the Teaching Regulation Agency has finally been removed.  From today the TRA state they have removed all decisions of misconduct where there was no prohibition order made and which are over two years old.  They...

Many of our clients are so desperately worried about what is happening to them, and so concerned to gain a better understanding of how professional conduct panels think, that they read all the published decisions on the Teaching Regulation Agency's website.  This can...

We have written before about how hard it is to win an appeal against a prohibition order in the HIgh Court.  Andrew has managed to cement into law that the High Court should usually approach such an appeal by a teacher as a 'rehearing'. ​ But that hasn't made winning...

Our teacher clients often fear the public humiliation of having their mistakes exposed in the press even more that the prohibition that can be imposed.  But even obvious errors can be properly understood by the Panel, other teachers and the wider public. This summer...

Increasingly the TRA are accepting and investigating referrals brought by members of the public rather than employers.  These can be from a hostile parent, carer or relative of a pupil or simply anyone with a gripe. In early 2023 a small but significant change on the...

This was the anguished response of a teacher to a recent decision to end his teaching career and prohibit him for the minimum two year period.  And I struggled to give him a good answer.   Unlike factual findings which rest with the panel, the final decision on...

2020 has been a tough year for all, but especially for teachers if our growing stream of enquiries is representative. School managers seem to be disciplining for minor mistakes and 2021 saw the TRA back into its business of referring and prohibiting, with experienced...

Joanne Lucas, an experienced and motivated drama teacher, joined John Kyrle High School in Ross-on Wye in 2015.  She worked extremely hard to improve her one-person department and single-handedly stage school productions. Coming from a trade union family,...

There was huge relief last week when a prosecution which took an agonising year to come to court resulted in the acquittal of our client after a two day trial at Newcastle Under Lyme magistrates. The Headteacher, who had a 30 year unblemished career, was accused of...

51 Interim Prohibition Orders (IPOs) were imposed by the Teaching Regulation Agency in 2018 -19.  The process is both swift and punitive but also (we think) unfair and probably unlawful.  The TRA allow only 10 days to gather your evidence and submit your response. ...