Teacher ‘shut boy in cupboard’
SUPPLY TEACHER DENIES MISCONDUCT CLAIM AT CITY SCHOOL
A SECONDARY school supply teacher allegedly shut a pupil in a cupboard for up to 20 minutes and “snapped” the door handle off to prevent him leaving.
An Education Workforce Council hearing was told Dr Mohamed Salah Djoudi shut the boy inside the windowless room at Whitchurch High School in Cardiff.
Giving evidence at the hearing, the boy, referred to only as Learner B, said he was not misbehaving when he claims Dr Djoudi ushered him into the cupboard without explanation.
The incident left him “worried” and “confused”, he said.
Giving evidence via video link, the pupil said the whole class had been talking so he was not sure why he was singled out during the incident in December 2017.
The pupil said: “He told me to get up and go to the maths cupboard. I thought it was a bit dodgy and asked him if I could be sent outside instead.
“He told me to stay there and then snapped the door handle off inside so I could not get out. I think the door handle was slightly broken.
“Mohamed put the handle on top of a shelf and closed the door.”
Giving evidence at the hearing in Cardiff, the pupil said there was no window in the cupboard but two other doors – one of which was locked and the other blocked by boxes.
When he got himself out, he carried on with the last 10 minutes of the lesson then reported the incident to his pastoral teacher.
“When Mohamed put me in the cupboard I was really confused to begin with because I did not know what was going on and was worried,” the boy added.
Dr Djoudi admits an allegation that while teaching at Whitchurch High he asked Learner B to follow him into a store cupboard or room.
But he denies other allegations amounting to unacceptable professional conduct that he left Learner B in the space for between 15 and 20 minutes and/or removed the handle of the door on the inside and/or closed the door while Learner B was still inside.
Learner B agreed the supply teacher had not touched him when he told him to go into the cupboard, which the hearing was told is a large internal space of around 20ft long and 4ft wide between two classrooms.
Whitchurch High School’s Alun Horgan, who was assistant head with responsibility for safeguarding at the time, described Learner B as “easy-going”.
“Learner B has always achieved very well and we have never had any behaviour issues or concerns,” he said.
Dr Djoudi, who has taught in university, colleges and schools for 30 years, represented himself and said he was unsupported by his employer, Cardiff-based Apollo Teaching supply agency.
He told the panel hearing that Learner B was misbehaving.
“He was disruptive and moving around so I asked him several times to sit down and stop moving around and making a noise.
“I decided to talk to him in private to let him know this was not acceptable.”
Dr Djoudi said he sent him to the “secondary corridor”, which is how he described what was mostly described in the hearing as a “maths cupboard”.
“I asked Learner B to wait for me by the door. I told him I wanted to talk to him during which the rest of the class became agitated and noisy so I left him there with the door wide open.”
Dr Djoudi said when he returned to teach Learner B started gesturing from the door.
“I believe Learner B was making silly gestures. I walked towards him and stood by the door. I could see the door at the other end was wide open to the other classroom and I shut and did not lock the door. I went to open the door and spoke to him and asked him to sit at the front.”
Dr Djoudi claimed he did not know the inside door handle was broken.
“Possibly it may have come loose in Learner B’s hand at a point after I shut it,” he said, adding the incident lasted no more than five minutes.
Mr Horgan agreed supply teaching was challenging but said there was a clear behaviour management policy and support for supply teachers and shutting pupils in cupboards was “not something we do”.
Dr Djoudi also denies allegations amounting to unacceptable professional conduct that in December 2017, while teaching at Eastern High School in Cardiff, he grabbed and/or pulled a pupil – referred to as Learner A – by the wrist and/or lifted Learner A out of his seat causing him to drop to the floor.
The matters were all investigated by police who took no action as it was deemed a matter of professional conduct, the hearing was told.
Responding to the allegation about Learner A, Dr Djoudi said the pupil asked to go to the toilet but provided a fake toilet pass so he told him to sit down.
“At no point did I place my hands on him,” he said.
The hearing continues.