teachers who have relationships with 6th form students should not be prosicuted...

[wannaBe]

... I heard on 5 live just now.

Discuss...

If they're that close to finishing, they should wait. I heard it on 5L too, there were many stories of these relationships starting decades ago and still going strong. What's wrong with waiting a year or too?

I'd have thought with there being so many allegations being made against those who deal with children in their jobs that they would do anything to at least keep up the appearance of being "clean".

Drs can't have relationships with their patients can they? It should the same for teachers too, especially given the age and differences in life experiences between the teacher and the pupil.

I think this is mad. I was involved with a teacher at school (and another one at college ) and I think it might be 'unprofessional' and there should be structures in place to report and carry out such relationships properly - but prosecution and sex offenders' register is utterly MAD.

We thought nothing of these relationships 20 years ago.

I had a relationship with one of the teachers in my college when I was 16 and he was 26.

He didn't actually teach me but my teacher was his best friend and also went out with pupils (college students).

At the time, it felt okay - I liked the idea of going out with an 'older' man, he had a nice car (very shallow of me I know).

While I was seeing the teacher, I met my (now ex) husband and, because he was closer in my age (only 9 months older), I realised that I wanted a long-standing relationship with someone nearer my age.

Although at the time it felt okay going out with him, looking back, it makes me feel a bit strange especially as my eldest dd is nearing 16 and I would NOT be happy if she went to college and went out with a teacher, whether that teacher actually taught her or not.

I don't think it should happen whilst they are teaching them.

They shouldn't be charged as a bloody sex offender though

which union raised the issue?

It's very naive to think that it was all ok 20 years ago. About 20 years ago, I was 17 years old and exploited by a teacher 20 years my senior who I thought I was madly in love with. He is now (allegedly) head of sixth form at a very posh public school, and has been up to tricks for years. Very fine line, what is just larks for them can be very damaging for a teenager and they do tend to be repeat offenders who get away with it.

When you look out for such cases in the news there are quite a few of them (anyone remember the teacher in Cheltenham a few years back who took a pupil to the local brothel?) but many more such cases go unreported.

It shouldn't happen while they are at school but often husbands and wives meet at school. There was a man on radio2 at lunch time. He met his wife when he was 17 and she was teacher aged 23, they are now married with 2 daughters; he said it was mad to think his wife could be on a sex offender's register.
I know a young teacher who is married to her old history teacher, they didn't start going out until she left the school but he is only 4 yrs older and the attraction must have been there.
Another man on the radio was furious because a married man in his 40's was having an affair with his 17yr old daughter, they met when she was babysitting his DCs. He pointed out that nothing could be done because he wasn't a teacher, youth worker etc.

Teachers are a particular threat due to the daily contact, image of trust, knowledge and authority.

There is a massive power imbalance. A 17 year old can be deluded and feels "special" and unique. But the teacher has seen it all before and in many cases is just waiting to exploit the next crush.

Absolutely agree with Rose100. Obviously the vast majority of teachers would not abuse their position but some do. The teacher from Cheltenham who was prosecuted was found to have done the same to another girl in a previous school but she had been too scared to press charges, and he had also 'tried it on' with several girls (and boys) plus was married himself with small children. Not a terribly nice person. Often the girls involved are very naive and 'innocent' and have been 'groomed' by the teacher, they are not all sexually active teenage predators, quite often far from it. The girls who are able to form good relationships usually do so with boys their own age or older boys not at their school etc. The teacher is in a position of authority and care and it is an abuse of his position. However old the sixth formers are, it is still not appropriate for a teacher to have a relationship with them for hundreds of reasons. Just wait til they have left school!

Wasn't there a teacher a few years ago who got 3 years for sleeping with a 16yo sixth former? Should be illegal, but sex offenders register and lengthy prison sentences seem ott. List 99 definitly though (list 99 is people not allowed to teach)

"We thought nothing of these relationships 20 years ago. "

Sorry, that's crap!

My mum and step-dad both taught at secondary school level then and it was very much frowned upon (no legal measures etc in place of course but regarded as unethical and inappropriate).

In fact there was a teacher at my school who was well known for targetting teenage girls. He was a sleazy prick, married with young kids. He was moved on.

There was also a girl at my school who had a relationship with a teacher (he taught elsewhere) and that was a source of comment too. I mean it was out of the ordinary enough to comment on.

It certainly wasn't ignored or tolerated, not by a long chalk.

Yeah, what wonderstuff said.

It can have long term consequences for the young adult, because it's such a formative age. I know my own experience ruined my 3 years at university, and has affected me beyond that.

I heard this dscussion on the radio this morning and it made me angry. Of course it is inappropriate for such a relationship to form, and there should be a disciplinary process by professional body/school. But to criminalise it seems wrong.

It taints the student too by association. In some cases the teacher might have been abusing power, in others not. To foist on a young person the status of victim is potentially damaging in iself.

I don't think it should automatically mean someone is put on the register of sex offenders. Surely it should depend on the case? A sleazebucket who repeatedly tries it on with teenagers is quite different from someone who might be involved in a one-off, long term relationship. Not that I think it is a good idea, but not necessarily paedophilia in each and every case.

I think whether they go on the sex offenders register should depend on the circs.

There are some paedophiles who will 'groom' a 15 year old but not lay a finger on them until they are over the age of consent at 16. Prior to the change in the law re abuse of authority legally there was nothing that could be done about it.

I think criminalising it and putting people on the sex offenders register is wrong when it's consensual. It has the effect of in a sense 'watering down' other cases where one person is predatory and coercive.

A relationship between a teacher and pupil over 16 could still be unprofessional, and the teacher could be guilty of gross professional misconduct and sacked, but surely that's punishment enough? Why criminalise it and prosecute them? I think this is a grey area and the professional misconduct aspect is enough - after all the teacher has lost their profession. To me that's punishment enough.