Child protection experts have reacted with fury after the head of a teachers' union said staff who have sex with pupils over 16 should escape prosecution.

 

Chris Keates, the general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, claims teachers who have affairs with pupils over the age of consent should not face jail.

 

Teachers who have sex with sixth form pupils are only guilty of an 'error of professional judgement' and it is unfair to put them on the sex offenders register, she insists.

 

Her comments, due to be broadcast on Monday, have outraged child protection and parenting experts who accused the teachers' leader of failing to protect children.

 

Miss Keates said: 'This isn’t a person who is showing any tendencies for being a sex offender; this is a person who’s made a serious error of professional judgement. I don’t think they need to be criminalised by being put on a sex offender’s register.

 

'There is a real anomaly in the law that we are concerned about and that is that if a teacher has a relationship with a pupil at the school at which they teach – it could be an 18 year-old pupil in sixth form – then that teacher can be prosecuted and can end up on the sex offenders register.  

 

She told the ITV Tonight programme: 'Clearly there has to be appropriate disciplinary sanctions in the school where a teacher works to make sure that inappropriate relationships don’t develop, but it does seem a step too far - when there has been a consensual relationship - to put that person on a sex offenders register when in fact, they could have a perfectly legitimate relationship with an 18 year-old still enrolled at another school.'

 

Her criticism of the abuse of trust law, contained in the Sexual Offences Act, which makes it illegal for teachers to have sexual relationships with children in their care, was condemned last night by child safety organisations.

 

Zoe Hilton, policy advisor at the NSPCC, said 'The law is very clear that if a teacher abuses his or her position of trust by forming a sexual relationship with a pupil they could be prosecuted and this remains the case even if the child gives their consent. The law is, quite rightly, there to protect children.'

 

Author on parenting and children's rights, Lynette Burrows said:  'Where is her moral compass?

 

'Teachers who take advantage of a young girl or boy in their care should certainly face dismissal and prosecution.

 

'If there is no penalty what is there to stop teachers taking advantage of children and young people?

 

'This also sends out a message that this is ok for teachers to have a relationship with pupils.'

 

The mother of six, who is a former teacher, added: 'Children deserve our protection and we should expect a standard of behaviour in that position of responsibility that should be rigorously enforced in law.'

 

In 2001 the law was changed to make it illegal for teachers to have affairs with their pupils under the age of 18.

 

But a study by Sheffield University published in 2005 estimated that as many as 1,500 intimate relationships develop every year.

 

Dean Dainty, who was 16 when he had a sexual relationship with his 22-year-old drama teacher Nicola Prentice, says the teacher's abuse of her position wrecked his life.

 

In an interview for the programme he said: ‘Looking back now, I wish it had never all happened. It affected me in a big way, my personality and things, and I started to do stupid things after it and not be myself.

 

'It took me a long time to get myself back together – I suppose it took a piece of my life away really.’

Prentice received a suspended sentence and was made to sign the sex offenders register.

 

Yesterday Margaret Morrissey, from the campaign group Parents Outloud, said: 'It is wrong for a teacher to have a relationship with a student in their school, even one over the age of consent.

 

'I would have been less than impressed if a male teacher had started a relationship with my daughter while she was at school. However, there is a question as to whether they should be classed as a paedophiles and a risk that labelling them as such devalues the term.'

 

To Sir With Love is to be broadcast tonight (mon) on ITV1 at 8pm

 

Source: Mail on Sunday

 

Anyone over 16 is legally allowed to have sex, it's that simple... Yes, it is an error of professional judgement, but this is all it is, it certainly is NOT in the same league as Gary Glitter, not even close... Why is it considered somehow nastier for a teacher to have consentual sex with a 17/18 year old sixth former, but practically nothing is said when a University Lecturer has a relationship with an 18 year old Fresher....? And trust me, this is actually quite commonplace in UK universities.... I mean, isn't the whole 'mentor/student' dichotomy pretty much the same whether it be Sixth Form College or University, and regardless of age....? The Lecturer is still in a position of authority regardless of whether the student is an adult or not...

 

Put simply, if mentor/student relationships are considered 'okay' in university (well, put it this way, I've yet to hear of a University lecturer being massacred in the media to the degree a teacher having a relationship with a 17/18 year old student would be, or having to sign the Sex Offenders Register), then I dont see why they can't be in Sixth Form colleges where surely we cannot talk of them being "children" anymore in that sense....

Anyone over 16 is legally allowed to have sex, it's that simple... Yes, it is an error of professional judgement, but this is all it is, it certainly is NOT in the same league as Gary Glitter, not even close... Why is it considered somehow nastier for a teacher to have consentual sex with a 17/18 year old sixth former, but practically nothing is said when a University Lecturer has a relationship with an 18 year old Fresher....? And trust me, this is actually quite commonplace in UK universities.... I mean, isn't the whole 'mentor/student' dichotomy pretty much the same whether it be Sixth Form College or University, and regardless of age....? The Lecturer is still in a position of authority regardless of whether the student is an adult or not...

 

Put simply, if mentor/student relationships are considered 'okay' in university (well, put it this way, I've yet to hear of a University lecturer being massacred in the media to the degree a teacher having a relationship with a 17/18 year old student would be, or having to sign the Sex Offenders Register), then I dont see why they can't be in Sixth Form colleges where surely we cannot talk of them being "children" anymore in that sense....

 

...true, but it IS illegal for an adult to seek to procure sex from an under 18 (over 16) year old. a teacher/lecturer is there to teach, not abuse there position of authority for their own gratification.

 

HOWEVER

 

they are clearly not in the same league as glitter/huntly/king etc.

I agree. Sure, it's not appropriate and the teacher should definitely get sacked, but jail sentences and signing the sex offenders' register for a relationship between adults is ridiculous.

Edited October 6, 200816 yr by Danny

...true, but it IS illegal for an adult to seek to procure sex from an under 18 (over 16) year old.

 

Doesn't that refer more to Online/internet chat rather than physically asking someone out on a date...?

 

And frankly, I dont agree with that law anyway, utter cr@p... The LEGAL age of consent is 16 in this country, that aspect of law is a complete contradiction and frankly needs to be sorted, 16/17 year olds do NOT need the same level of protection as 10-15 year olds, it devalues the very nature and context of what "paedophilia" actually is. Either raise the age of consent to 18 (which would be just plain daft, let's face it..) or scrap that particular piece of cr@p legislation (which was brought in for no other reason than to sate a hysterical Tabloid-fuelled, public public backlash against Social Networking sites) altogether....

 

Anyone over 16 is legally allowed to have sex, it's that simple... Yes, it is an error of professional judgement, but this is all it is, it certainly is NOT in the same league as Gary Glitter, not even close... Why is it considered somehow nastier for a teacher to have consentual sex with a 17/18 year old sixth former, but practically nothing is said when a University Lecturer has a relationship with an 18 year old Fresher....? And trust me, this is actually quite commonplace in UK universities.... I mean, isn't the whole 'mentor/student' dichotomy pretty much the same whether it be Sixth Form College or University, and regardless of age....? The Lecturer is still in a position of authority regardless of whether the student is an adult or not...

 

Put simply, if mentor/student relationships are considered 'okay' in university (well, put it this way, I've yet to hear of a University lecturer being massacred in the media to the degree a teacher having a relationship with a 17/18 year old student would be, or having to sign the Sex Offenders Register), then I dont see why they can't be in Sixth Form colleges where surely we cannot talk of them being "children" anymore in that sense....

You make a good point but I'm sure you remember that the current law was a compromise when the equal age of consent for gay men was introduced. The distinction with the current law is that school teachers are still acting in loco parentis while university lecturers are not. I'm not saying I agree with the law. I'm merely pointing out the logic behind it.

The distinction with the current law is that school teachers are still acting in loco parentis while university lecturers are not. I'm not saying I agree with the law. I'm merely pointing out the logic behind it.

 

Sixth Form Colleges aint really the same thing as schools though, are they...? Otherwise, they wouldn't have a different title, they'd be called 'schools', and there's the assumption that pupils that stay in school beyond 16 do so voluntarily as with University, ergo they are not 'children' and should not be treated as such IMO, 16/17 year olds know their own mind.... And I still maintain that Lecturers have as big a professional responsibility to their students as college tutors or school teachers do, the relationship isn't on an equal level whether it's pupil/teacher or lecturer/student...

 

The law is just fukked-up and totally contradictory, I do not believe a teacher should be compelled to sign the sex-offenders register or even be prosecuted for having a consentual affair with 6th form student, a professional reprimand would be more appropriate...