Teacher who told pupil she loved him struck off for life

Esther Garcia Rodriguez will not be able to apply to have her registration restored

A teacher found to have told a pupil that she loved him and given him a “sexually suggestive” book has been banned from the profession for life.

Esther Garcia Rodriguez, who taught in schools in Berkshire and Oxfordshire, was the subject of a court order in 2020 after authorities were concerned about her contact with boys.

A misconduct panel found she gave the pupil The Reader by Bernhard Schlink – a 2008 film version starred Kate Winslet – in which a 15-year-old boy has a sexual relationship with a woman.

It found she had shown a “distinct lack of evidence of any insight and remorse” for her actions.

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) found that among her inappropriate conduct, she invited the boy and other pupils to a birthday dinner celebration.

She said she did tell the boy that she loved him but “in a caring way, like love for a son”.

Police investigated her conduct in September 2018 and she was given a Sexual Risk Order (SRO) at Oxford Magistrates’ Court in January 2020.

She resigned from her role at a Berkshire school days after receiving the order.

SROs are issued when authorities are concerned about the impact a person could have on other people but they not been convicted of or cautioned for any offence.

The panel was told Ms Rodriguez denied there was any sexual motivation behind her actions.

But it found otherwise and said messages with another boy were “very flirtatious”.

They included her telling him he was “good looking” and discussing a “sexy” dress which had “long, low cleavage”.

The TRA panel found her conduct “affected more than one pupil over a number of years”.

Chair Sarah Buxcey said the “seriousness of the allegations found proved” against Ms Rodriguez meant she would never be able to apply to have her teaching registration restored.