Teacher who called out colleague’s sexualised comments about male pupils loses tribunal case

Martin Shipton

A supply teacher who reported a male colleague for making sexualised comments about under-age boys has lost her claim for unfair dismissal.

Alys Bryant said she was very disappointed by the decision, but remained convinced she had done the right thing in reporting her ex-colleague, an unqualified teacher who continues to be registered with the Education Workforce Council and is able to work in schools.

Employment Judge Stephen Jenkins ruled that the New Directions teaching agency had been within its rights to sack her after she called her ex-colleague a paedophile and a “paedo” during an altercation on the Eisteddfod Maes in Pontypridd in August 2024.

Neither the unqualified teacher – who is referred to as Teacher A and was supplied by a different agency – nor the school he and Ms Bryant taught at, can be named as a result of a court order.

‘Alarmed’

In a written statement provided to the Employment Tribunal in Cardiff, Ms Bryant explained how she had become alarmed by comments made by Teacher A about young boys he was teaching.

She stated: “Teacher A told me they had been dismissed from a previous school they worked at because boys at the school had reported them for inappropriate sexually charged behaviour.

In late Autumn 2022 he had rung her on the internal school phone to say – in a voice she said sounded like he was excited or aroused – “I have a class full of testosterone here.

Ms Bryant said in her statement: “I remember thinking the comment by Teacher A was weird and it made me uncomfortable.” She had also disapproved of the fact that he was recording children in the Sports Hall when Wales played Iran in the football World Cup, despite having been repeatedly not to do so.

Ms Bryant stated: “The worst comments were when Teacher A told me about two different boys’ penises, which made it absolutely clear that Teacher A had been looking. One boy was described as having a “banana in his trousers”. Teacher A said the boy was probably asking to go to the loo so that he could have a ‘wank’. In the same conversation he moved onto another boy’s penis where he referred to the boy as being ‘blessed by god’ as he could see the outline of a large penis in the boy’s tight jogging bottoms.”

‘Alarm bells’

Ms Bryant added: “The above comments were made around the beginning of December 2022 and it was at this stage that alarm bells started to ring and I realised this was serious.”

After she reported the comments to the school’s safeguarding officer and the headteacher, Teacher A was removed from the school.

She said in her statement: “A few hours after I met with the head and the safeguarding officer, Teacher A burst into the PE classroom where I was, crimson with fury, and swore at me and had a prolonged rant at me. I was alone in the classroom and Teacher A called me a ‘fucking bitch’ and said, ‘what the fuck did I ever do to you?’ I really thought Teacher A was going to come up to me and hit me, so uncontrollable was their rage.”

Describing the incident at the National Eisteddfod, Ms Bryant stated: “The morning passed without incident but at around 1.30pm I was coming out of the ladies’ toilets near the lido and had just rejoined my mother when Teacher A came up behind me and said, ‘There she is the old bitch’. I was in shock and tried to say something but Teacher A overpowered me and started a tirade of abuse as they had done before at School A on the day they were removed.

“ … I wanted Teacher A to go away from me and my mother. As Teacher A continued with the abuse I tried to say: ‘you’re a paedophile’, just so that they would leave us alone, but I couldn’t get a word in edgeways, so when they turned around to march off I said again: ‘you’re a paedophile’.”

Teacher A reported the incident to the police, and subsequently she was contacted by David Lewis, the education safeguarding officer for New Directions, for whom she had worked as a languages teacher for eight and a half years with an unblemished record.

‘Unprofessional conduct’

Mr Lewis told the tribunal that he had dismissed Ms Bryant because of her unprofessional conduct in calling Teacher A a paedophile at a public event.

In giving his judgement, Employment Judge Jenkins said the agency had acted within its rights in terminating its offers of work to Ms Bryant on the grounds of unprofessional conduct.

Ms Bryant said: “I’m obviously very disappointed with the judgment. By focussing on the incident that occurred on the Eisteddfod Maes and especially on how I reacted to Teacher A’s aggression towards me and my mother, I believe the judge has ignored the bigger picture.

“My motive in raising concerns in the first place was that someone making such sexualised remarks about children should not be working in a school environment. As of today, he is still registered with the Education Workforce Council.

“That’s because of the ridiculous rule that education supply companies are responsible for disciplining the people they employ. What happened in this case was that even though Teacher A had been told to leave a certain school, the supply company that employs him didn’t take any action against him. They simply sent him to another school.

“So far as I’m concerned, this is an extremely important safeguarding issue. Parents do not want their children to be taught by someone who expresses a sexual interest in them. I hope the guidance is changed so that agencies are duty bound to automatically report to the Education Workforce Council workers who have been removed from a school for inappropriate behaviour.”

Investigate

A spokesperson for the Education Workforce Council said: “The EWC does not comment on individual cases.

“Supply agencies, like schools and other education establishments, have a statutory duty to refer matters to the (EWC where the relevant criteria are met. Where referrals are received, we have clear processes in place to fully investigate and take any appropriate regulatory action to safeguard learners and young people, and maintain public confidence.”

Relevant legislation states that an employer or agent must refer a case to the EWC where it ceased to use the services of a registered person in Wales.

However, as things stand no such referral has to be made when a teacher is asked to leave a school for inappropriate behaviour but the agency that employs them simply sends them to another school.