A secondary school teacher will be struck from the teacher registry after being found guilty of professional misconduct for sending three male pupils numerous improper communications, reports RTE.
The teacher, who is in his mid-20s, will not be able to reapply to register as a teacher for three years, according to a panel that is in charge of the Teaching Council’s fitness-to-teach examination.
According to an investigation conducted last month, the teacher was found guilty of three charges of professional misconduct that were proven beyond a reasonable doubt in connection with his interactions with children who were on a GAA team he coached at their school on the school’s Microsoft Teams platform.
According to a three-person investigation panel, the students received texts that were improper in terms of time, frequency, and substance, reports RTE.
Additionally, it found that the teacher’s online interactions with the boys, who were second-year pupils between the ages of 14 and 15, violated the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers.
The instructor was temporarily employed at a major post-primary school from September 2022 to May 2023 when the communications, many of which were received late at night, took place.
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Due to a directive from Noel Cronin, the inquiry’s head, neither the instructor nor the school can be recognised, reports RTE.
The instructor, who was 24 at the time, emphasised that he was “not soliciting anything or grooming anyone” while acknowledging to the investigation that he had been “very naive and immature” in his texts to the three pupils.
According to the probe, the instructor emailed one student, calling him a “golden boy” and “such a bender,” and said, “I thought you were 100% gay.”
“Are you sexy?” he messaged another student, claiming that the third student appeared “homosexual” in a picture of the youngster attempting a high ball during a game, reports RTE.
Mr. Cronin stated that the sentence “serves to properly acknowledge and reflect the gravity of the conduct and the egregious breach of trust and abuse of power underpinning the decision it has made in this inquiry.” The panel had recommended the sanction during a hearing.
Regardless of any mitigating circumstances, Mr. Cronin stated that the panel was certain that “anything other than this sanction would amount to a failure to uphold professional standards and public confidence in the profession and the regulatory process,” reports RTE.
Until the High Court legally ratifies it, the teacher’s formal penalty cannot be implemented.
Eoin McGlinchey, the teacher’s attorney, requested that the panel take into account the fact that his client had not been employed since May 2023 in his statement on the potential sentence, reports RTE.
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