School teacher fired for escort work

[RosaMoline]

Firstly, apologies for linking to a Daily Mail article!

What do we think about this? I’m quite torn tbh.
I’ve always been of the opinion that whatever individuals get up to in their private lives does not affect their ability to do a job well.
However, I appreciate teachers are held up to a high standard. I believe it’s even more extreme in the USA - teachers have been fired for photos on social media of them having alcoholic beverages!
Someone must’ve really had in for her to trawl the net, and dob her in…😳
I don’t believe the assertion that it would lure the pupils into a life of vice..somewhat OTT.
She was foolish though as she can’t have disguised her indentity on these sites..I don’t understand that at all!
AIBU: she has no place as a teacher, brings the profession into disrepute.
YANBU: even teachers are entitled to a private life, and should have no bearing on their ability to do the job.

So, do men get fired if they use prostitutes?

Maybe if they're posting photos of their chopper hanging out online.

I thought that!

I mean the suggestion that it would lead infant aged children into sex work was hyperbole.

But yes, what she did was not appropriate. With certain jobs it is like that.

Dunno, but they've been known to be fired for working as an escort/stripper/actor in pornographic media.

So, do men get fired if they use prostitutes?

If it causes a scandal big enough - they do. Prostitutes are pretty often used to discredit or blackmail someone.

If people find out I’m guessing so.

An escort..no problem. Her behaviour..definitely not suitable for teaching.

People routinely lie.

I would guess it was a parent or member of the school staff who reported her.

The odds of a child at her school finding her online have to be almost non existent but this would be considered gross misconduct in many places of employment.

Do I think teachers have a right to a private life away from school? Absolutely. Should she have been fired for breaching the terms of her contract? Yes.

She was charging that sort of money. No suggestion she actually made any.

Of course she needed to be struck off. What kind of message does that send to young people?

£120/half hour
£220/hour
£160/overnight

This girl aint cheap.

Educating children, the next generation is not meaningful….ok??? The need to keep children safe, by having a professional body…is not meaningful…

It is a profession and she, like other teachers, face the Teaching Regulation Agency for serious misconduct. TRA is government regulated. Teachers are in a government regulated profession...thank goodness.

This is Samantha Barguss’ case (public document). She has been ‘struck off’ on behalf of the Secretary of State for education. She is prohibited from teaching indefinitely.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-misconduct-panel-outcome-ms-samantha-barguss

@Josie234 thanks for the link. Skim reading it boils down to the panel deciding that if a pupil saw it they may think that selling sexual services was a way to make money. Which it is. And it's legal. I bet some teachers are on Onlyfans.

If I was the dictator of the UK (one day) buying prostitutes would be criminalised and the prostitutes themselves wouldn't be. (So I guess a conviction for buying sex could easily lead to job loss).
But even though i don't think prostitutes should be criminalized - I don't think its a job that's compatible with teaching. Lots of professions have rules on what (if any) additional jobs employees can do. A teacher not moonlighting as a sex worker and posting about it online seems like a no brainer.

‘Unacceptable conduct & bringing the profession into disrepute’ - which is part of the teaching standards.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-standards

So what would be the point of allowing prostitutes if using them was illegal?

Oh, educating children - and adults - is very important. Little else is more important.

But the teachers and their unions have degraded the ‘profession’ so much for 50 years that nobody really cares any longer about the status of teaching.

There was a time when being a teacher was a socially dignified and revered role. Nowadays I doubt that anyone could care less if a teacher is moonlighting as an escort.

So what would be the point of allowing prostitutes if using them was illegal?

Nordic model. Selling sexual favours isn't illegal, buying them is.

But perhaps not in demand if she’s still teaching?

So the pros cant make any money?

Well no. The whole point is to get rid of prostitution by making it criminal to use them. If you make it illegal to be a prostitute then you end up having to punish a lot of very vulnerable women. So Nordic buyers model is seen as a way of effectively banning prostitution without punishing the prostitutes.

Anyway to answer the OP - yes I think that sex work, posting explicit pictures online is not compatible with working with children. So I can see why she was banned from teaching.

Ah I see, so the game continues but the men break the law.

This is of topic but:
Because while some (possibly this teacher) might find prostitution a fulfilling career, many start at a very young age (most before 18) and/or have a history of child sexual abuse. A great number also have drug addictions, issues with homelessness or domestic abuse. And that's before you mention victims of human trafficking. Criminal convictions for prostitution can make it impossible to get proper jobs, and can haunt women for years - basically making it harder for them to leave and therefore make the problem worse. Plus, prostitutes particularly street workers suffer from violent crime at a much higher rate than the general population and are extremely vulnerable. Putting barriers in the way of them accessing the police makes an already dangerous job more dangerous.

So, that means its not helpful to criminalise sex workers. But neither is prostitution this totes empowering super fun activity - it causes harm in lots of ways. So buying sex should be not only criminalised but also, ideally stigmatised as a behaviour. In theory you could make it legal as a "harm reduction" measure and keep the idea its still bad. In reality, that seems impossible.

Not all prostitutes are innocent victims, clearly this teacher wouldn't consider herself to be such and has an additional job and husband. But on the whole, its not a healthy career choice (to put it mildly).