Mr Steven Alcorn

Introduction

Mr Steven Alcorn is a former teacher at Eastwood Academy in Leigh-on-Sea who was prohibited from teaching for life in August 2023 after a professional conduct panel found he had made inappropriate physical contact with five pupils during lessons and that the contact was sexually motivated. The panel, which heard his case in his absence, found the touching of Pupils A, B, C, D and E amounted to serious sexual misconduct, and the decision maker for the Secretary of State concluded that Alcorn should never be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach. Alcorn admitted only fragments of the case against him, and the panel found it lacked sufficient evidence to assess his remorse on the rest.

Background Information

Alcorn taught at Eastwood Academy, a secondary school in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. The allegations covered the autumn term of 2018, from 1 September to 12 December, and a school residential trip that August. The panel convened virtually without him: he was not present and was not represented, though the hearing took place in public and was recorded. He partially admitted some facts, including allowing pupils to plait his hair, but denied the allegations as a whole, and the case therefore turned on the testimony of the pupils and colleagues who gave evidence about his classroom conduct.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Sexually motivated contact with five pupils. Found proved on the balance of probabilities after a hearing in the teacher’s absence. No criminal prosecution is recorded in the decision, and the findings are regulatory, not convictions.

The panel found that in August 2018, on a school residential trip, Alcorn allowed pupils to plait his hair in the female pupils’ dormitory, failing to maintain professional boundaries; on the dormitory evidence of a teaching assistant, weighed against supporting statements from two male teachers, the panel found the dormitory element proved alongside the outdoor plaiting he had admitted. Between September and December 2018 it found he made inappropriate physical contact with pupils during lessons: stroking or touching Pupil A’s thigh and hair, rubbing Pupil B’s thigh and back, touching Pupil C’s thigh, and touching the hands of Pupils D and E. It found the physical contact with all five pupils was sexually motivated.

The panel also found a pattern of boundary-breaking classroom behaviour: referring to pupils as ‘babe’, ‘honey’ and ‘darling’, making comments about female menstruation, telling a pupil he was glad girls now wore trousers because he would formerly “be able to see everything while at my desk”, and making inappropriate comments about suicide to pupils, including words to the effect of “Oh dear, that is bad, you should really commit suicide”. Several other allegations, including touching a pupil’s head with a metre ruler and referring to himself as ‘daddy’, were found not proven for want of corroboration, and an allegation that he threw an object at a pupil’s head failed for lack of evidence.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel found a strong public interest in safeguarding pupils given the serious findings of inappropriate physical contact involving children, and concluded that Alcorn had sought to exploit his position of trust in a way that fundamentally breached the standard of conduct expected of a teacher. On mitigation, it noted he adduced no evidence, appeared to have limited insight into some behaviour, and had apologised for some of it, but that the panel lacked sufficient evidence to assess his remorse on the remaining findings. The decision maker treated the sexual motivation finding as serious sexual misconduct, and judged that the lack of full insight or remorse created a risk of repetition that put pupils’ future wellbeing at risk. The panel recommended no review period, and the decision maker agreed, going further: Alcorn was not to be entitled to apply for restoration at all.

Current Status

The decision was made by Sarah Buxcey on behalf of the Secretary of State on 8 August 2023, following the panel’s determination of 2 August 2023. Mr Steven Alcorn is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. Because of the seriousness of the findings, the decision maker decided that Alcorn shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach, closing even the ordinary review route that most prohibited teachers retain. The order took effect from the date it was served on him, and he had a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The lifetime ban with no possibility of restoration is the regulator’s most severe sanction, reserved for findings of sexually motivated conduct toward children, and it makes any return to teaching impossible in England regardless of future insight or rehabilitation. The case also illustrates the panel’s evidentiary discipline: of the many allegations levelled at Alcorn, only some were proved, and the no-restoration clause rested on those findings alone, the sexually motivated touching of five pupils and the Dormitory boundary breaches, rather than on the uncorroborated claims the panel rejected.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Steven Alcorn” — source