Teaching Regulation Agency issues rulings on two misconduct cases

Two separate cases involving teacher misconduct have been addressed by the Teaching Regulation Agency.

James Bees, a former mathematics teacher at The Stanway School in Essex, has avoided a professional ban despite a panel finding him guilty of unacceptable professional conduct. Between March 2020 and March 2021, Bees sent numerous personal messages to two pupils outside of school hours, including during holidays and late at night. The panel determined that his comments regarding friendship and his personal feelings for the students went beyond ordinary pastoral support. He was also found to have shared an inappropriate meme with a student and placed a pupil's mobile phone in his pocket during a revision session. A decision-maker concluded that a prohibition order would not be proportionate.

In a separate case, Matthew Udall, a 33-year-old former science teacher in Warwickshire, has been banned indefinitely from the teaching profession. A panel found his actions were sexually motivated after he provided a pupil with a pen containing a hidden camera and encouraged her to change clothes before using it. Udall was convicted of inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity and attempting to observe a private act. He was sentenced to 31 months in prison. The agency imposed an immediate prohibition order due to a lack of evidence of remorse and the potential risk of repetition.