Devon grammar school teacher banned over student contact

A teacher has been banned from teaching for at least five years

A former teacher at a grammar school has been banned over "sexually motivated" contact with a student.

Lindsey Bauer, 46, admitted "abusing her position of trust", the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) said.

Following a hearing, the agency recommended an "indefinite ban".

Ms Bauer gave evidence before a professional conduct panel at a private hearing convened by the TRA in April 2022 with the result of the hearing published on Thursday.

She admitted her actions had amounted to "unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute".

The TRA found Ms Bauer had engaged in "inappropriate communications with the pupil which the panel concluded was sexually motivated".

It recommended she should be banned "indefinitely" from teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children's home in England, a decision approved by the Secretary of State.

'Inappropriate advances'

The hearing was based on three allegations, two of which Ms Bauer admitted and a third which she denied.

Ms Bauer admitted that, whilst employed as a teacher, she failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with a student.

This, according to the report, included "suggesting they arrange face-to-face meetings, making inappropriate advances and communicating with the student outside of school without good reason on matters that did not relate to the school curriculum".

Ms Bauer also admitted facts relating to the second allegation, that she "abused her position of trust by encouraging the student in activity which was viewed to be sexual in nature".

'Position of trust'

Ms Bauer denied the third allegation, that her conduct in the first allegation was "sexually motivated".

But the panel, made up of two lay people and a teacher, found this to be proven after considering documents supplied by the both the TRA and Ms Bauer.

The panel found Ms Bauer "failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with a pupil at a secondary school and abused her position of trust".

This, they said, included "engaging in inappropriate communications with the pupil which the Panel concluded was sexually motivated".

Prohibition was "both proportionate and appropriate", they said, deeming public interest considerations to outweigh the interests of Ms Bauer.

"The fact that Ms Bauer's actions were sexually motivated was a significant factor in forming that opinion", the report said.

The Secretary of State approved a recommendation from the panel that a prohibition order be imposed and it took effect on 23 May 2022.

Ms Bauer can apply for a review of the ban on 23 May 2027 but does not have an "automatic right" for it to be lifted.

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