Bolanle Kareem

Introduction

Bolanle Kareem was an IT teacher at Medway Secure Training Centre, a custodial facility for young people, where educational services were delivered by the charity Nacro. In November 2019 a CCTV review found he had repeatedly allowed and encouraged students to view pornographic images in class — at one point enlarging an image on the whiteboard “for better visibility” — while ignoring students simulating sex acts in his lessons. Kareem, who had been flagged for the same behaviour in May and July 2019, denied the allegations, did not attend his Teaching Regulation Agency hearing, and was prohibited from teaching for life in September 2023 with no review period and no route back.

Background Information

Kareem gained qualified teacher status in 2012 and joined Medway Secure Training Centre on a full-time basis on 2 July 2018. His students were young people in custody — a population the panel noted is among the most vulnerable in education. Concerns about explicit imagery reaching his classroom had already been raised with management twice in 2019, in approximately May and July, before the incidents that ended his career. On the weekend of 23–24 November 2019 the centre reviewed CCTV footage of his lessons; on 25 November 2019 a LADO referral followed, the incidents were referred to police, and Kareem was referred to the TRA on 10 December 2019.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Found proved on CCTV evidence. A Teaching Regulation Agency panel found that in November 2019 Kareem showed students pornographic material during class time and failed to discipline or report students who simulated sex acts in his lessons — despite prior management warnings about identical conduct — and that this demonstrated a lack of insight. He denied the allegations; the panel found them proved from CCTV footage of his own lessons.

The footage showed a pattern. In a 4 November 2019 lesson, pornographic images appeared via a Kahoot quiz on the interactive whiteboard; Kareem was shown to be aware of the images, took no steps to close the software, enlarged a pornographic image for better visibility, and interacted with the quiz software at length to generate further images visible to students. In an 11 November lesson, further examples followed. The panel also found several examples of students simulating sex acts in his November lessons, some observed by Kareem, with “no evidence from the CCTV footage that the students were admonished or disciplined”. His profile of the quiz software was used to search for pornographic content, and on one occasion he told a student the material was “naughty”.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel found the conduct breached the Teachers’ Standards and the safeguarding duties in Keeping Children Safe in Education and Working Together to Safeguard Children — duties it described as heightened for staff in secure settings. It treated the two earlier management warnings as aggravating: the November 2019 conduct repeated what he had already been told to stop. The panel identified a strong public interest in protecting an especially vulnerable pupil population and in public confidence, noting the profession “could be seriously weakened if conduct such as that found against Mr Kareem were not treated with the utmost seriousness”. No evidence of insight or remorse was provided; he did not attend. It recommended prohibition without a review period.

Current Status

Decision maker Sarah Buxcey, acting for the Secretary of State on 19 September 2023, prohibited Kareem from teaching indefinitely — barring him from any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England — and, given the seriousness of the findings, ruled that he “shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach”. The order took effect when served. The decision-maker judgment recorded that the lack of evidence of insight or remorse “means that there is some risk of the repetition of this behaviour and this puts at risk the future wellbeing of pupils”.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Kareem’s teaching career ended with the November 2019 CCTV review and formally with the September 2023 ban — a lifetime prohibition with no review mechanism, reserved for cases where the regulator sees unmitigated risk to children. The case stands as a safeguarding precedent for custodial education: the panel’s decision turns not on a single lapse but on a teacher who repeated pornographic exposure in class after explicit management warnings, and who gave the regulator neither attendance nor explanation. No further public professional role for Kareem is recorded.

Sources

• Department for Education, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Bolanle Kareem” — source