Will my teacher friend lose her job?

[thelightofthenkew]

Primary school teacher going to court in the new year for driving while disqualified, they were banned for 6 months due to accumulating too many points on their licence.

They will be convicted as they are pleading guilty, will this mean they will get the sack from their job? Anyone know a similar situation happen before?

Asking for a friend.

Given there is a teacher shortage, given the choice between say, having a qualified Maths teacher teaching A level who'd done what your friend did or having no one or a non maths teacher covering, I'd definitely choose having your friend teaching. I doubt it would cause my dc to go and get points on their licence

I hope so !!!

They should be automatically sacked yes. And I should hope so. Driving whilst disqualified / disqualified means just that.

If not, they/you should!! How many chances should one get after breaking the rules several times?
You/ they are in a position of trust and you/they have made choices, actions have consequences !!!

Does anyone posting here actually have any knowledge of the law and the justice system? From what I’ve read it seems people are just giving their opinion of what should happen without any especial knowledge.

It's Mumsnet. That's what 90% of the posts here are all about.

When a society is so fixated on rules that it doesn't have the capacity to empathise (not condone - just to employ intelligence and imagination to seek to understand how and why a law was broken) and sometimes cut an offender a little slack, then it's in trouble.

It is dependent on circumstances. I’ll say no more than that but PM me if genuine.

It depends I think on the teacher and the school. If they’re an otherwise good teacher and are well thought of then I’d hope they kept their job.

I know (friend lost contact with) who regularly drove while a bit drunk, stoned even and was lucky she was never stopped. She was a popular primary supply teacher. After one incident where she almost hit a pedestrian on a crossing when a bit tipsy it shook her up and she got the bus or train home and cabs.

I know a lawyer used to deal with driving offences. It all depends on the sentence, if he could get it reduced, or if there were mitigating circumstances and on the judge on the day. But he did tell his clients that he couldn’t perform miracles and would sometimes refuse to take on a case if it stood no chance of winning.

That’s a bit harsh. So suppose the person has another job (not dependent on them driving), they should lose their job then too?

I don't see why a teacher should lose their job over this. I dont think it would be likely under the circumstances. But I don't know the exact rules.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a751242ed915d60d3b90e3d/Teachermisconductttheprohibitionnof_teachers.pdf#page7

Pages 7 and 8 relate to offences that would be considered serious in regards Teacher Misconduct

I actually would be surprised if she loses her job for this. It is a serious offence but I think that if she can cope without driving to work then she might be okay unless the school considers it’s too much of a damage to their reputation to continue to employ her. But I think that because she was originally banned for totting up rather than for something like drink driving it might not be seen as as bad. Depends on the view of the head teacher - she should start grovelling now.

She stands a tiny chance of not being barred from teaching if there was a seriously good reason - (in a car in middle of nowhere, driver has heart attack symptoms; phone has no battery?!).

But let's face it, if she had a half decent excuse I think you'd probably have mentioned it.

She deserves a ban from teaching. BUT: if she's truly a friend, it might be worth being ready to support her (I don't mean condone her actions so much as be there for her).

Sometimes people do turn their lives around after doing bad things, learn their lessons, truly change, want to repay society etc. Equally, some spiral into desperate behaviour and ruin their whole lives. And some utterly despair and attempt suicide.

Sometimes even the wisest and midi compassionate of friends can't save someone from the latter two. But sometimes one friend can make all the difference.

Whether she is banned from teaching or not depends on whether she is dismissed or not.

If she is dismissed it isn’t a given she’s referred to the TRA. And if she is referred it isn’t a given they’ll bar her. The TRA are notoriously sporadic in the decisions they make.

Driving while disqualified is considered much more serious than drunk driving.

Driving whilst disqualified is regarded by the court as a very serious offence because it usually constitutes a defiance of, and contempt for, an order either of the court or a Registrar.

While it might not seem relevant to ability to teach, to some, driving while disqualified signifies a repeat offender because you don't get disqualified for nothing.

Isn't it more to do with the Teaching Regulation Agency?

I don't know the legal issues but for various reasons I read a lot of their decisions going back ten years. Perhaps a shortage of teachers has changed things, but she'd have most likely had a ban back then, at least for a while.

That's insanity

So long as she's not getting a custodial sentence, presumably she doesn't need to drive as part of her job.

She could get disciplined for bringing the school into disrepute though. I don't think she'd be sacked.

It depends whether her school choose to refer her or not.

One school referred a teacher over a kid sustaining a minor injury with a glue gun but most aren’t quite so draconian.

She needs to urgently get advice from her union.

I'd expect them to. If this were my 'friend' I would be advising them to treat it as if they will do and sort their finances or future job options out now just to avoid the shock and rush of waiting until the day to find out and having their life made much more difficult - eg arrange at least a part time job as soon as possible, move savings to pay rent/mortgage for any periods potentially unemployed, look at what benefits or JSA they may be entitled to.

What do you think the union can do?

Put simply the school can dismiss her but it doesn’t mean they will.

They can refer her to the TRA but it doesn’t mean they will

The TRA can bar her from teaching but it doesn’t mean they will.

A lot depends on mitigation and I know MN will insist there is none, none, but luckily the courts are a bit more nuanced.

Legally it might not make a difference. Morally it would and as said above PPs friend can plead her case.