Schools urged to check out job applicants online

Schools should use their “professional curiosity” when recruiting staff and employ search engines as “another tool” to find out whether candidates are suitable, the Government has said.

In a response to a consultation on safeguarding in schools, Whitehall said the move would improve procedures.

A number of teachers have been banned recently because of predatory behaviour on social media.

In January, a school rugby coach in Wales was banned from teaching after asking girls as young as 13 for nude pictures on Instagram and Snapchat.

And in 2018, a teacher who posted “racist” pictures on Facebook was banned from the profession for life.