Flasher and fraudsters apply for jobs in schools

Fraudsters, thieves and a flasher are among the would-be teachers who have applied for jobs in west Kent schools, the Kent Messenger can reveal.

Security checks carried out on applicants for roles in the classroom flagged up a total of 52 individual offences in the criminal records of those looking to become teachers, teaching assistants and head teachers in Maidstone and Malling.

The figures, obtained from the Disclosure and Barring Service, showed 14 instances of drinkdriving, four occasions of ABH, one of wounding and a benefit cheat during the one-year period from December 2016 to November 2017. They included convictions, cautions, warnings and reprimands.

Other offences on the year-long list include two instances of harassment and driving while disqualified and single occasions of assault on a police officer, disorderly behaviour, and criminal damage.

Racially aggravated harassment, theft and possessing a controlled drug are also on the list of figures.

Many employers request a criminal record check processed through the Disclosure and Barring Service, DBS for short, as part of their recruitment process.

DBS applications are referred to police forces, who examine the records of those seeking to work in a range of sectors including schools, healthcare, social services and private hire transport.

If convictions are discovered, applicants are prohibited from going for jobs in these sectors and it is an offence for an employer to take on any of those who fail checks.

However, the DRB now has a process of filtering those with minor convictions and cautions which can be removed from certificates issued in a similar way to offences being regarded as “spent”.

A Kent County Council spokesman said: “Safeguarding pupils is vitally important. Teachers are often the only adult in the classroom with children and schools therefore need to be confident that teaching applicants are suitable to work with children.”