Victorian Institute of Teaching finds teacher guilty of having sex with ex-student

A Victorian state secondary school teacher will be able to teach again despite having sex with a former student.

A secondary school teacher, who has been found guilty of serious misconduct after having sex with a former student, has been suspended from teaching for two years.

A state secondary school teacher, who has been found guilty of serious misconduct after having sex with a former student, has been suspended from teaching for two years.

But they will be able to teach again if they adhere to strict conditions placed on their registration.

The teacher, whose name has been suppressed to protect the identity of the student, was suspended by the teaching regulator last year, after the educator regularly met up with the pupil and had a sexual relationship with them.

In a decision released by the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) this week after a formal hearing in February, it was determined that two out of three allegations against the teacher were substantiated.

This includes the teacher being guilty of serious misconduct by maintaining an inappropriate relationship with a year 12 student and having a sexual relationship with them within two years of them completing high school.

Teachers are not permitted to have sexual relationships with a former student within two years of the student leaving school.

According to the hearing’s findings, the teacher was aware that the student was vulnerable.

The VIT hearing panel found the teacher also engaged in an “intimate kiss” with the former student at their home where they had consumed alcohol, and invited them to stay the night one New Year’s Eve.

The former teacher then engaged in sexual intercourse with the former student at their home the following day and did so on at least four further occasions between then and January 17 the next year.

The panel noted there was a period of grooming involved in each of these cases and a degree of secretiveness not apparent in the teacher’s case.

The VIT determined the registration of the teacher be suspended from February 2024 for a period of two years.

At the end of that period the teacher would need to have completed certain conditions to the satisfaction of the VIT before the suspension would be lifted.

Some of the conditions include the teacher engaging with health professionals and undergoing a treatment plan.

The former teacher will provide the VIT with reports from the treating health professionals every six months with a final report as near as practicable to the end of the period of suspension.