A female teacher who was fired after allowing students as young as 15 to pose topless and simulate masturbation for a school project has justified her actions as "art" and claimed she was the victim of a "deep injustice."
Teacher Sacked For Letting Girls Under 16 Pose Topless
After allowing girls under the age of 16 to pose topless while other students imitated masturbation, a schoolteacher was fired.
When the incident occurred, Emma Wright, 41, was an art teacher at Huxlow Science College in Northamptonshire.
Ms. Wright was reported to the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) in 2018 when the school's head of art and design discovered photos of the kids.
After it was discovered that she allowed students to take partially-naked images, she was banned from teaching for an indeterminate period.
The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) ruled that Ms. Wright produced and submitted photographs of students: “Holding cigarettes, wearing only underwear, with their hands covering their otherwise naked breasts, while others posed with their hand inside their underwear and/or in a pose with simulated masturbation.”
The TRA added that “Ms. Wright had accepted that the artist she had introduced did do ‘suggestive pictures’, but she told the students this did not mean for them to do suggestive pictures".
The report went on to say: “Mrs. Wright informed the panel that she had told the pupils that she did not expect them to be naked, but to use their arm, face, or something. During her evidence, Mrs. Wright stated that art is a process.”
“On balance, the panel determined that Mrs. Wright would have seen the photographs that had been produced by the pupils before the final artwork had been produced.”
The TRA’s Alan Meyrick said in conclusion: “Whilst the panel was satisfied that there was a low risk of repetition, it did not find that Mrs. Wright had fully reflected on the safeguarding implications of allowing pupils to take photographs of themselves or others in a state of undress.”
“The risk of harm, due to the lack of safeguarding pupils, was a significant factor in forming that opinion.”
“In my view, it is necessary to impose a prohibition order to maintain public confidence in the profession.”
Ms. Wright's indefinite ban will not be reviewed until at least 2024.