Former Caulfield Junior College teacher Chris Adams admits misconduct but argues he should not be suspended

A former Caulfield Junior College teacher who told incest and murder stories to young kids said he has learnt his lesson as he admitted to 11 fresh allegations of misconduct.

Primary school teacher Chris Nicholas Adams has admitted to 11 fresh charges of misconduct. Picture: Facebook

A primary school teacher with a chequered professional history has told a disciplinary tribunal he is now “much more mature” than when he was telling incest and murder stories to year 4 pupils.

The Education Department sacked Chris Nicholas Adams, a former teacher at Caulfield Junior College, when these complaints about his conduct emerged in 2017.

He remains able to work at private schools after the teaching regulator, the Victorian ­Institute of Teaching, at the time refused to strip him of his teaching registration, prompting outrage among parents.

At a hearing into fresh misconduct before a Victorian ­Institute of Teaching disciplinary panel, Mr Adams said he had “done a lot of reflection” since his career started to ­unravel.

Mr Adams on Wednesday admitted to 11 fresh allegations levelled against him, but his legal team argued his actions amounted only to “misconduct”, not “serious misconduct”, and that he should not be suspended from teaching.

Teacher Chris Nicholas Adam says he is a changed man. Picture: Facebook

In almost farcical scenes, the disciplinary panel and lawyers refused to publicly state precisely what Mr Adams had admitted to doing.

The details of Mr Adams’s conduct were instead handed to the panel in a document, which panel chairwoman Janet Sherry refused to release.

The institute’s barrister, Peter Matthews, said Mr Adams had breached his code of conduct by failing to ensure students were protected from humiliation and harm, and by touching them without a valid reason.

The institute was previously seeking a finding that Mr Adams was not fit to teach, but backtracked from that on Wednesday, in part because of a series of glowing references from colleagues, principals and parents at schools where he has taught since being sacked by Caulfield Junior College.

Mr Adams’s barrister, Nicholas Green, SC, said his client admitted what he had done, and thereby spared children being grilled by lawyers.

“In 2022, Mr Adams is not the teacher he was at the time of these events, nor is he the same person,” Mr Green said, adding that Mr Adams had ­repeatedly been “shown the door” from teaching jobs when employers found out about previous conduct.

Police interviewed Mr Adams but he was never charged with an offence.

Mr Adams, giving evidence, said he was now “smarter with the way I conduct myself” and “a much more mature and much more informed teacher” than previously.

“I admit I went a little bit too far,” he said.