Tahir Khawaja

Introduction

Tahir Khawaja was a mathematics teacher at Pensby High School on the Wirral when, a Teaching Regulation Agency panel found, he maintained private Facebook Messenger contact with a pupil and encouraged female pupils to take up modelling. The conduct was pursued, the panel found, at least in part for his own potential financial gain. Khawaja admitted both allegations and accepted the conduct amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and disrepute. The panel placed the case at the more serious end of the spectrum and recommended prohibition with a five-year review period. On 21 January 2026 the Secretary of State’s decision maker banned him from teaching indefinitely.

Background Information

Khawaja joined Pensby High School in September 2018 as a maths teacher on a one-year contract. In June 2019 the school’s Head of PSHE disclosed information about him within the school, and senior leaders spoke to him about a separate issue involving his use of Snapchat, issuing him with the school’s Code of Conduct, Social Networking policy and safer working practice guidance. He replied on 14 July 2019: “Thank you for the guidance. Will strictly follow them to the letter.” His employment ended on 31 August 2019. He began at Wendover Online School in September 2022, and the matter was referred to the TRA on 18 July 2024.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Admitted, exploitation-for-gain case. Khawaja admitted the facts of both allegations and accepted they amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. These were regulatory findings on the balance of probabilities, not criminal charges, and the panel made no finding that the conduct was sexually motivated; the exploitation it identified was financial.

The panel examined 18 pages of photographs of Pupil A’s mobile phone showing Facebook Messenger messages exchanged between June and October 2019. The messaging began towards the end of the 2018/19 academic year, continued during term time and holidays, often late at night, and carried on past the end of Khawaja’s employment on 31 August 2019. Further messages, initiated by Khawaja, passed between them from November 2023 to February 2024, four years on. Although it was not clear who sent the first message, the panel found he had “proactively maintained the messaging”.

The modelling pressure was sustained. Khawaja raised the topic with Pupil A repeatedly despite acknowledging that Pupil A’s parent had said Pupil A did not want to try modelling. He explained that modelling would involve taking “head shots”, potentially at Pupil A’s home, said he would be with Pupil A “all the way” and would “protect” and “look after” them, and suggested pupils E and F could also take part, offering to take the initial photographs himself once consent was obtained. In a lengthy email to Pupil A’s parent on 27 July 2019 he said he “could safeguard [Pupil A] on your behalf”. Pupil A wrote on 3 August 2019: “Not doing the modelling”, and on 9 August: “just do not feel comfortable doing modelling”, yet Khawaja continued messaging about modelling on 3, 9 and 10 August.

Pupil A’s incident report of 5 November 2019 recorded that Khawaja had asked Pupil A to stay behind after class and, when they were alone, whether Pupil A was interested in modelling for an agency; Pupil A felt pressured and recalled him commenting that Pupil A had the “perfect body” for modelling. Consistent incident reports from pupils E and F corroborated this account. Questioned by the panel, Khawaja confirmed the opportunity could have led to financial gain for both him and Pupil A, as he would have received a “finder’s fee” had Pupil A been recruited by a modelling agency. His account that the communications were “predominantly for teaching purposes” was inconsistent with the documentary evidence and the pupils’ reports.

The panel concluded the conduct amounted to an abuse of his position of trust: at its root was “the intention to exploit a [REDACTED] pupil for his own financial gain”. It found his actions deliberate: he pressed on despite the June 2019 management intervention and his promise to follow the guidance “to the letter”. The panel found none of the criminal-offence behaviours listed in the TRA’s advice relevant, and it made no sexual-motivation finding.

Public Reaction and Consequences

No criminal proceedings feature in the decision; the case was handled through the school and then professional regulation. Khawaja was spoken to by senior leaders in June 2019, and his one-year contract ended that August. In July 2024 Wendover Online School was notified that he had allegedly contacted pupils out of school hours, and the school referred the matter to the TRA. The panel hearing on 19 and 20 January 2026 at Cheylesmore House, Coventry was public and recorded. Khawaja attended without representation. Pupil A gave evidence as a vulnerable witness and remained clear and consistent; the panel noted Khawaja’s questioning of Pupil A at points appeared to shift responsibility onto them. The panel found unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.

Current Status

In a decision dated 21 January 2026, David Oatley, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State, imposed a prohibition order with the panel’s recommended five-year review period. Khawaja 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 but not until 28 January 2031 at the earliest; that is not an automatic right, and without a successful application the ban stands. The decision maker gave considerable weight to the “lack of genuine insight and remorse” and to the absence of any additional safeguarding measures or training since the TRA’s notification. The outcome was published on 9 February 2026.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The order closes off teaching in England, where Khawaja had been working at Wendover Online School when the matter reached the regulator. He told the panel he had deleted his social media accounts and stopped the activity, but the last safeguarding training module he produced predated the TRA’s notification of the allegations. Any return requires applying after 28 January 2031 to have the order set aside and persuading a fresh panel; without that, the prohibition is indefinite.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Tahir Khawaja,” published 9 February 2026 — source