Cheating teachers can return to classes
TWO shamed teachers who were at the centre of an exam scandal which rocked one of Britain’s biggest schools can can continue to work in the classroom.
Barring Martin Scott and Inmaculada Gabucio Laguna from teaching would “deprive” the public, a professional conduct panel has ruled.
That’s despite the school’s principal claiming the cheating could have had “immeasurable” consequences on pupils.
Shamed Mr Scott was sacked, later losing his unfair dismissal case. His tribunal heard both teachers handed GCSE pupils ‘cheat sheets’ at Kenton School in Newcastle.
The 51-year-old defended his actions, claiming to be a “whistleblower”.
When her cheating was exposed, Mrs Laguna quit. She now works for Jet2.
The 50-year-old ran the department, but despite three years at the 1,800-pupil school, claimed to be “inexperienced” at running assessments.
Pleading for the chance to teach again, she claimed her new role with the budget airline had made her better prepared.
“Mrs Laguna was also able to explain how she would react differently were a similar situation to occur in the future,” states a report.
“She stated that her current employment at Jet2 Airways required her to have a detailed knowledge of the regulations and she fulfilled those obligations. Were she to be allowed to teach again, Mrs Laguna confirmed that she has improved coping strategies in place to deal with stressful situations and articulated means of doing this.
“Mrs Laguna would follow procedures and regulations relevant to her school as demonstrated through her current employment.”
She attended the conduct panel, explaining her cheating was a “terrible one-off ”. Mr Scott didn’t attend the November 21 hearing.
But the panel ruled both had “expressed their remorse”, with little impact on pupils.
“In the panel’s view, both teachers’ actions related to their failings in respect of one lesson (respectively) and there was no suggestion that either teacher had benefited in any way,” states decision maker Dawn Dandy.
She added while their actions were “deliberate” they were “borne out of a lack of awareness of the strictness and application of the rules in which the controlled assessments had to be undertaken”.
However the principal of the Drayton Road secondary - one of the biggest in Britain - slammed the duo’s cheating. “When a teacher resorts to such actions, it shows that they have low expectations of the students, implying that students are not able to achieve well through their own hard work, which we know is not the case,” said Sarah HolmesCarne
“Had the school not identified the malpractice and taken action at such an early stage, the impact of Mr Scott and Mrs Gabucio Laguna’s decisions for the students would have been immeasurable.
“The school, therefore, had no hesitation in referring the malpractice to the Teacher Regulation Agency and we welcome the fact their findings support the actions we took.”
Despite ruling the duo “fell significantly short” of standards expected in teaching, the tribunal refused to sanction them - giving them the green light to return to a classroom. And the report adds: “The remorse and insight shown by both Mrs Laguna and Mr Scott means that there is minimal risk of the repetition of this behaviour.”
When a teacher resorts to such actions, it shows that they have low expectations of the students... School principal