A teacher who sent a pupil the message “Do you have a boyfriend?” followed by a smiling face emoji has been allowed to remain in the profession. John Taylor, employed at City of London Academy in Islington at the time, faced a teacher misconduct hearing over four allegations. He admitted the facts were correct but denied they amounted to unacceptable professional conduct or brought the profession into disrepute.
Inappropriate messages after tutoring
After a tutoring role with a group of students ended, Mr Taylor kept the phone numbers of some pupils. He then sent messages including “Hope you don’t mind me checking in. I liked getting your photos but deleted them by accident”, and “Do you have a boyfriend?” with an emoji. He also sent a photo of himself to one pupil holding what appeared to be an alcoholic drink.
Panel finds misconduct but no ban
The misconduct panel found him guilty of unacceptable professional conduct but did not impose a banning order. The report stated: “Mr Taylor’s conduct involved a significant failure to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with students [with] whom he had recently had contact in an educational context.” It added: “Teachers occupy a position of trust and influence and the public is entitled to expect them to exercise sound judgement when communicating with students connected to their professional role.”
Defence by current employer
Investigators were told Mr Taylor had “contributed significantly” to the education sector for more than two decades and that the incident was out of character. His current employer, a boys’ school in London, defended him, saying it would be a “huge loss” if he were banned from the profession.
