Sharif Youssef

Introduction

Sharif Youssef is a former teacher, most recently of Passmores Academy in Essex, who was prohibited from teaching indefinitely in July 2026 after a Teaching Regulation Agency panel found he had repeatedly given false accounts of his employment history in applications for teaching work. He admitted three of the four occasions; the panel found dishonesty on the first three. Its findings, it said, involved “repeated and calculated dishonesty in pursuit of personal gain.” The Secretary of State agreed to the panel’s recommended ban, with a three-year review period.

Background Information

Youssef, born on 11 October 1981, taught at a succession of schools: Helena Romanes School (2013–15), Birchwood School (2015–16), a Multinational School outside the UK (2016–19), St Margaret’s School (2020), Boswells School (2020–22), Herts and Essex School (September–December 2022) and Passmores Academy (January 2023–January 2024). His Birchwood employment ended with him being placed on gardening leave. The record opens with the May 2022 application to Herts and Essex School — the first in-window act in a year-long pattern of inaccurate employment information, which came to light that September. The Passmores episode surfaced in September 2023, was investigated by the school, and was referred to the TRA on 13 February 2024.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. The findings below are regulatory, made on the balance of probabilities by a TRA panel after a hearing at which Youssef attended only the first day and was not represented. They are findings of professional misconduct — not criminal findings; no criminal charges are mentioned in the published decision. The outcome was mixed: allegations 1, 2(b), 3, 4(a) and 4(b) were found proved; allegation 2(a), and the dishonesty charge attached to allegation 4, were not proved.

The panel found proved that in May 2022 Youssef’s application to Herts and Essex School omitted his year at Birchwood School (1 August 2015 to 31 August 2016). The omission was no slip: the schools were close, their staff well known to each other, the Birchwood year “would have been memorable for him given that it ended with him being placed on gardening leave,” and he “would have needed to specifically amend his TES form to remove the reference to Birchwood School.” The panel rejected his suggestion of mistake and found the omission dishonest. It also found proved that in November 2022 he told Witness C, of a teacher supply agency, that he was not in employment and that his last job had been at Boswells School — while he was in fact employed by Herts and Essex School. Youssef disputed that account; the panel preferred Witness C’s “cogent and credible” evidence, noting his own admission that he did “not recall the details of what was said.” A companion claim — that he had also falsely vouched for his CV — was not proved, there being no evidence the CV was ever sent to him.

It further found proved that his 6 December 2022 application to Passmores Academy omitted his just-ended Herts and Essex employment (1 September to 8 December 2022) — admitted, and found dishonest, because it “concealed a recent and directly relevant period of employment” and deprived the school of information needed for recruitment and safeguarding checks. Last, an October 2023 CV to the Uniform Education agency gave his Passmores start date as 1 September 2023 (correct: 6 January 2023) and his Herts and Essex end date as 31 November 2022 (correct: 8 December 2022). Those inaccuracies were proved, but dishonesty was not: there was “no obvious benefit to him.” Dishonesty was therefore found on the first three occasions, not the fourth.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel found the conduct amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, breaching the Teachers’ Standards on public trust and pupil safeguarding, and found “serious dishonesty” on the first three allegations. It noted he “continued with his dishonest conduct notwithstanding the fact that he was under investigation for similar alleged misconduct at his previous school.” His mitigation — a school commendation, 45 thank-you cards from students, a Staff of the Month certificate — showed at most a teacher “personable, engaging, and liked by students”; no colleague references attested to his teaching ability. Having left after day one, he gave the panel limited opportunity to assess his remorse; it concluded his insight was limited, indicating “some ongoing risk of repetition,” and did not accept the incidents were out of character. Decision maker Stuart Blomfield agreed for the Secretary of State on 14 July 2026, giving that lack of insight considerable weight. No mainstream press coverage carrying his name has been located; the public record is the regulator’s published decision.

Current Status

Youssef 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 order to be set aside after a three-year review period — but not before 17 July 2029, and not automatically: a panel would have to consider any application, without which he remains prohibited. The panel’s determination is dated 9 July 2026 and the outcome was published on 30 July 2026. The order takes effect when served on him; he retains a right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days of notice.

Impact on Their Career/Life

A decade-long career across seven schools is over for at least the three years before he may ask for the ban to be lifted, and the published findings — a school year edited out of a TES form, a false account of his current job to a recruitment consultant, a recent employer erased from an application — are permanently attached to his name in the regulator’s public record. The panel treated the conduct as an attitudinal failing rather than a run of slips: dishonesty repeated across more than half a year, inside recruitment processes whose checks exist to safeguard pupils. Its summary is what any future employer searching the register will read: repeated and calculated dishonesty, in pursuit of personal gain.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Sharif Youssef,” published 30 July 2026 — source