Mr Edward Smith
Introduction
Edward Smith was a Sixth Form Mentor at The Pingle Academy in Derbyshire, part of The de Ferrers Trust, where he worked from 4 September 2017 on an unqualified teacher contract, with unsupervised involvement in planning and delivering lessons to pupils. Between October 2021 and January 2022 he posted a stream of public tweets from his personal Twitter account — material touching on child pornography, terrorism, sexual assault and explicit sexual content — and pupils at his school found them and reported them. Smith admitted everything, and on 29 February 2024 the Secretary of State banned him from teaching indefinitely, with no possibility of review until February 2027.
Background Information
On 24 January 2022, two students disclosed to the Assistant Head of Sixth Form that they had seen tweets from Smith’s personal account which “made them feel uncomfortable”. The Acting Principal was notified and the LADO was informed. The Academy conducted its own investigation, including an interview with Smith on 1 February 2022, and on 16 March 2022 a disciplinary hearing ended in his dismissal with immediate effect.
The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) alleged that between on or about 12 October 2021 and 13 January 2022 Smith posted on his personal Twitter account one or more public comments of an inappropriate and/or offensive nature. Smith admitted the facts in an email to the TRA dated 1 November 2022 and in a statement of agreed facts signed on 9 September 2023, in which he also admitted unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. The TRA agreed to his request that the allegations be considered without a hearing, and the panel considered the case at a meeting in private, without the presenting officer, Smith or a representative attending, announcing its determination on 26 February 2024.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Admitted misconduct. Mr Edward Smith admitted the allegations in a signed statement of agreed facts considered by a Teaching Regulation Agency panel. The panel found proved that between on or about 12 October 2021 and 13 January 2022 he posted public comments of an inappropriate and/or offensive nature on his personal Twitter account, and that this amounted to both unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. No criminal proceedings feature in the case: the conduct found against him was entirely his public social media activity.
The schedule of eighteen tweets ranged across subjects no teacher should attach a public byline to. One hoped to become “the first ISIS sponsored Twitch streamer”. Another said he was “Changing the name of the whole FF7 party to the names of kids at school who I wish would be my friends”. Another, about locating a pornographic video, ended “cum in 60 Seconds”. Others referenced child pornography, Jeffrey Epstein, rape and sexual assault, and one read “I’m going to kill myself eventually. It’s a matter of time.” The panel noted that the tweets were “numerous and over a period of time”, and corrected one detail: the first tweet in the schedule carried a typo and was actually posted on 19 October 2021.
The panel found breaches of the Teachers’ Standards, including treating pupils with dignity and observing proper boundaries, having regard for the need to safeguard pupils’ well-being, showing tolerance and respect for the rights of others, and not undermining fundamental British values. It highlighted the tweets’ “repeated reference to child pornography in a way that could be interpreted as normalising such behaviour”. Although the conduct took place outside the education setting, the tweets were posted publicly and evidently led to pupils being exposed to them — two pupils at his school reported the account. The panel found Smith guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The panel attached particular weight to the safeguarding aspects. A separate tweet, not part of the allegation, showed Smith in front of what appeared to be a classroom whiteboard, so an ordinary citizen viewing his public feed could infer that he worked in teaching. From there, the panel reasoned, a pupil aware that Smith was a teacher “in a position of some authority” might infer that the views in the tweets were appropriate in modern society — which “poses a potential safeguarding risk to any child viewing Mr Smith’s Tweets”.
Mitigation was thin. There was no evidence that Smith’s actions were not deliberate, and none that he acted under duress; the evidence suggested he had “intended to make his Twitter page private upon beginning his teaching role”, rather than saying that he would refrain from making similar posts. The panel did acknowledge that he had “demonstrated some insight into his behaviour being unacceptable” in a statement provided for the meeting. It recommended a prohibition order with immediate effect and, having concluded that “a review period of longer than 2 years is appropriate”, recommended a review period of three years.
Decision maker Marc Cavey, deciding on behalf of the Secretary of State on 29 February 2024, placed considerable weight on the lack of evidence of full insight, which in his judgment left some risk of the behaviour being repeated. He was “particularly mindful of the extreme nature of the comments made and reposted on social media in this case”, and agreed that “a two year review period is not sufficient to achieve the aim of maintaining public confidence in the profession”: given the seriousness of the misconduct, the safeguarding risks and “the extreme nature of Mr Smith’s comments”, a three-year review period was required. A prohibition order, he concluded, was proportionate and in the public interest.
Current Status
Smith “is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England”. He may apply for the prohibition order to be set aside, but not until 28 February 2027, three years from the date of the order at the earliest — and that is not an automatic right: if he applies, a panel will meet to consider whether the order should be set aside, and without a successful application he remains prohibited indefinitely. The order takes effect from the date it is served on him, and he has a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days of notice.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The tweets had already cost Smith his job in March 2022; the prohibition order removed any prospect of a return to teaching in England, in any setting. The decision records what the panel could not weigh in his favour: acknowledgement of some insight, but no evidence of the full insight and remorse the Secretary of State looked for, and no evidence of his teaching ability. What remains public is the schedule of eighteen tweets, findings of unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, and an indefinite ban with a single, distant opportunity to argue for it to be lifted.
Sources
- Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Edward Smith” — source