A 20-year-old teacher who sent inappropriate messages to former students via Snapchat has been dismissed by the Teachers’ Council, reports RTE.
The Teachers’ Regulatory Authority also ruled that the teacher should not be eligible to apply for re-registration for at least 15 years because the seriousness of the conviction against him is “fundamentally incompatible with his continued registration as a teacher.”
An investigation by the Teaching Council in July found the teacher guilty of professional misconduct and seven counts of breaching the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers.
It ruled that the teacher engaged in inappropriate communication on Snapchat with six former students of the high school where he taught and another girl from the same area.
Some text messages contain a “highly sexual nature”.
The messages were sent on unknown dates between September 2019 and July 2020, when the girls were between 13 and 14 years old, reports RTE.
The names of teachers, students, schools and their general geographical location cannot be identified by order of the Pedagogical Council.
The investigation found that for two days this summer, the teacher worked at the school from September to December 2019 as a student and later as a substitute teacher.
During today’s confirmation hearing for the board’s disciplinary committee, she said the teacher’s professional misconduct was “at or very close to the highest end on the spectrum in terms of their seriousness,” reports RTE.
Committee chairman Sean O’Neill said factors taken into account included the aggressive nature of the behaviour and the age profile of the pupils, who were at a stage of development where children were particularly vulnerable.
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