TRA written response resulting in the case closed with no action

Sarah-Jayne Varley from our Professional Discipline team was instructed to represent a teacher facing an investigation by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA).

Background:

A teacher who had worked for 19 years without incident faced her child being taken into care, as a result of allegations of a sexual nature against her partner. The TRA allegations, were based on a referral a year ago by the school she had worked at, related to her inability to safeguard her daughter.

Our Approach:

The TRA’s evidence was based entirely on documents supplied by the school and the police and were 18 months out of date. They did not seek any input from social services or the family courts.

We therefore sought evidence from social services and disclosure from the family law courts, including psychological reports, by application to the family court. This was to demonstrate that the teacher herself was a victim of coercive control which affected her behaviour at the time of the allegations, and that subsequently having left her former partner she had not been deemed a safeguarding risk by social services or the Family Court; having been granted sole custody of her daughter.

The Outcome:

Following submission of our carefully crafted written submissions, the TRA  concluded that we we had successfully persuaded them that there was not  sufficient evidence to support the allegations. The TRA therefore closed their case and our client was free to continue teaching.