A High school teacher encouraged drama students to play a game where they slapped each other's bottoms, demonstrated an intimate scene on a pupil, and showed up to work impaired by alcohol.
The details of the teacher's misconduct were outlined in a recently released Teachers' Disciplinary Tribunal decision. The teacher, whose name is suppressed, was censured over the 2018 and 2020 incidents.
The first incident occurred during an exercise in a 2018 class. The teacher had told students to pair up and slap each other on the shoulder. Some started slapping each other's faces, but the exercise was not stopped as "the students were having fun".
During the exercise, the teacher gently slapped a student who did not have a partner. After asking, "Are you ready?" he then slapped her face harder.
"It did not cause the student any real pain, but it was hard enough to turn her head, make a sound, and make her feel uncomfortable and shocked," the summary of facts read. The teacher "immediately" regretted it.
During rehearsals for a production, the teacher "repeatedly encouraged" students to play a warm-up game where they would "tag" or slap each other on the bottom. Despite the game making students uncomfortable, they were not given an option to sit out.
On one occasion, a Year 9 student said he was uncomfortable. The teacher mimicked him with a high-pitched voice and "playfully slapped" the student's bottom.
He "immediately walked across the classroom and sat down so that no one else could slap him".
When the student told the teacher he didn't find the game fun, he was met with another mimicking reply.
The teacher agreed to stop playing the game after a colleague was told about the incident.
Encouraged female student to straddle a boy
Another incident occurred with the same student a few years later while devising a scene that had an element of innocent romance. The students wanted to avoid physical contact as it made them uncomfortable.
After seeing the scene, the teacher encouraged a female student to touch and straddle the Year 11 boy.
Despite being put off by the idea, the boy reluctantly agreed to let the teacher demonstrate the scene on him.
He approached the student from behind, pretended to run his hands down the boy's chest without touching, and pulled him onto the bed.
"The student was shocked because he wasn't expecting it to happen so quickly, and there was a lot of force behind the manoeuvre."
The boy eventually stopped taking drama as he did not like the teacher.
The students involved in both incidents wrote complaints about the teacher's conduct, with one letter co-signed by nine ex-students.
The teacher responded to the complaints by assuring he would seek consent for physical contact when directing and would make sure students felt comfortable articulating their boundaries. The principal also decided to put a plan in place to help the teacher respond.
Smelled of cigarettes and alcohol
In October 2022, while procedures and documents for the plan were being finalised, another incident occurred.
A colleague noticed the teacher was inarticulate, slow, and slurring his speech during a staffroom conversation. He also smelt of cigarettes and alcohol. He initially insisted he was fine to teach.
When confronted by the principal, the teacher admitted to drinking the night before. He was sent home and stood down with pay.
The teacher agreed with the facts outlined in the subsequent investigation and accepted his behaviour was serious misconduct.
He admitted to abusing alcohol to cope with "immense physical and emotional stress" caused by the allegations around his conduct. He has since undergone treatment for mental health issues and alcohol abuse and was "on the right track".
The tribunal said the teacher was "remorseful" and had taken "full responsibility" for his actions.
The teacher was censured and ordered to pay costs.
His most recent practising certificate expired in July 2024.
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