The Kentish Express has ‘broken’ the news that national papers are reporting that a teacher has been suspended for appearing naked on a gay porn website (http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentish_express/news/2009/september/25/teacher_suspended.aspx). Strangely the Herald have yet to put this up, although they have past form of ripping news from the nationals (see Howard posts below) so it can’t be long.
No names are mentioned, but a quick interweb search shows the Telegraph is carrying the story, and at least credits the Sun with the scoop. The Sun doesn’t appear to have a problem giving the teacher’s name, hometown and even a smattering of the pics in question (with modesty covering black boxes, probably not present on page 3) (http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentish_express/news/2009/september/25/teacher_suspended.aspx). If you want the name follow the link.
The school have given a bland comment to the Express. There is a plea “Do you know any more? Give our newsroom a call on 01233 623232” at the end of the article, which is no great surprise as these ‘Give us a story’ messages have been appearing more frequently as the KM Group guts its editorial teams. One might wonder if the Sun hack made it down to speak to pupils and get the quotes for his article, and in doing so whether he broke parts of section 6 of the PCC Code of Conduct:
6. Children:
i) Young people should be free to complete their time at school without unnecessary intrusion.
iii) Pupils must not be approached or photographed at school without the permission of the school authorities.
The Sun headline screams “Gay Pics”, yet apparently the profile on the website gives the name as ‘Mike’ and the sexual orientation as ‘straight’. Later the article refers to “the site - which also features hardcore gay porn”. Does this mean in addition to softcore gay porn, or in addition to a straight porn section? If it is the latter, might the headline be more than a touch sensationalist? Regardless of the orientation of the teacher or the site, is it not possible that the guy is a just bit of an exhibitionist and a few snaps have been put up on his behalf?
The teacher has been sent home and suspended. While his position may now be untenable I am waiting for the calls for him to be sacked, which is a step too far. If someone can convince me what he has done is wrong, harmful or morally objectionable then I will change my mind. The sack would represent a meddling in private lives. Although posting pics on the internet is never the most private of things to do, it is not in school hours and is not connected with his work in the school in any way. This follows recent reports similarly questioning what teachers are allowed to do out of work hours, and whether teachers should be allowed to get drunk (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/sep/02/teachers-slam-code-of-conduct).
Of course there must be limits, laws and the means to police and enforce these limits. In some criminal cases the loss of job and position is to be expected for some professions, teachers included. However, posting a few nude pics on the web hardly warrants the loss of a job and the wrecking of reputations siezed upon by the press. Social norms will usually make living bad enough.
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