Student swimwear screenshot amid complaints against Qld teacher

A Queensland teacher who took Facebook screenshots of a student in her swimwear and asked about other children’s sex lives has been allowed to return to the profession.

Disciplinary action has been taken against a Queensland teacher who touched students.

Disciplinary action has been taken against a Queensland teacher who touched students, asked about their sex lives, queried whether one girl wore spray tan beneath her underwear and who took Facebook screenshots of another student in her swimwear.

But the seasoned educator will be allowed to return to the profession, despite a tribunal finding seven of 10 allegations brought against him were grounds for disciplinary action.

The Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) referred complaints about the teacher’s conduct to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The tribunal investigated 10 separate allegations and found that seven constituted behaviour that did not satisfy the standard expected of a teacher and were grounds for disciplinary action.

The teacher accepted two occasions on which he touched grade 12 students was inappropriate and fell short of expectations, including one instance when he grabbed a girl’s arm, and another in which he nudged a student towards a classroom.

The tribunal found the teacher had also engaged in “overfamiliar conversation” with a student whom he asked whether she had a boyfriend, if she was practising safe sex, and whether she drank alcohol or took drugs.

In another instance, a student suffered a panic attack and believed she had been groomed by the teacher after spoke to her about whether she had exchanged explicit photographs, told her not to wear make-up as she was attractive, and said her body was like a 21-year-old’s.

He also showed the same girl how he could find her address by internet searches and showed her images he obtained from her Facebook page including one of her wearing swimwear.

The man submitted his behaviour was not inappropriate when considered in the context that he was trying to warn students of the dangers of posting information online.

He said further comments to the girl about the potential for undereating to interrupt her menstruation were against a backdrop of him knowing a person who suffered from an eating disorder.

“We accept the respondent held genuine concerns about these matters,” the tribunal wrote.

“However, we consider that the communications, particularly the reference to the student’s looks and body, ‘crossed the boundary’ into inappropriate communications which did not maintain a sufficient professional boundary.”

The teacher conceded he had also asked a student if she used spray tan under her underwear but denied that it was inappropriate in the context of his pastoral care responsibilities.

“He explained he had a concern, based on scientific reading, that applying spray tan on skin not exposed to sunlight is more susceptible to harm from absorption chemicals,” the judgment said.

“Regardless of the reason put forward by the respondent, we consider this communication did not maintain the professional boundary generally expected of teachers.”

The man, who became a teacher in the mid-1980s, was suspended in 2019 amid an investigation by the QCT into the alleged conduct.

The tribunal ordered that the suspension end upon his completion of an online course about professional practice and boundaries for teachers.