Norwich teacher who searched for teen pornography on a work laptop avoids classroom ban

A teacher who searched for teen pornography on a school laptop will not be struck off, a disciplinary panel has ruled.

A misconduct hearing was told that Jonas Diete, a former Year Six teacher at Valley Primary Academy in Norwich admitted to searching for pornography while working from home.

But they ruled he could continue in the teaching profession, stating the behaviour was "unlikely to be repeated".

The trust which runs the school said he no longer worked there and suggested anyone searching for pornography during working hours "would be best to apply for employment elsewhere".

Diete told the Teaching Regulation Agency misconduct panel that he had "forgotten" to use his personal device and instead searched several explicit terms through a private browser on his work laptop.

Several illicit search terms were detected by the school's IT system on July 8, 2020.

Norfolk County Council and the police were then alerted, and his devices were seized.

The panel concluded that Diete's actions were an "isolated incident" and caused "no harm or risk of harm to pupils" and that banning him from the teaching profession was "not proportionate".

Diete accepted that he had gone online "for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification".

He claimed that the term "teen" had not been used in reference to children and that it was a "category of pornography that he had seen on other websites before" and referred to 'body type' rather than age.

He also emphasised that when he had viewed pornography which was categorised as "teen", it had always been accompanied by a declaration that the images were of persons aged 18 or over.

The panel accepted this explanation and acknowledged that the police had found no evidence of illegal material relating to children.

Hazel Cubbage, chief executive of Heart Education Trust, which runs Valley Primary, said Mr Diete no longer worked at the school.

"Those who believe it is appropriate to use school-owned devices for pornography searches - or indeed to use personal devices for accessing pornography during working hours or where those searches are prefaced by the word "teen" - would be best to apply for employment elsewhere," she said.

"This case provides a stark reminder to the sector that safer recruitment extends beyond the initial appointment of staff.

"In the digital age, our duty as educators to protect children is becoming ever more complex. The national school lockdowns during the pandemic, when this incident took place, provided an increased risk for all schools in relation to safeguarding.

"The trust was able to extend its existing pupil monitoring software to staff devices to further mitigate the risk. This proactive approach to risk management, along with a strong culture of safeguarding, high quality training and the quick actions of our central IT team, enabled us to respond to the incident promptly.

She added: "There is no greater priority in our academies than the safety of our children."

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