Teacher free to take up new job after 'inappropriate' sexual relationship with pupil

Russell Oakley is suspended from teaching for three months after arguing an 18-year-old girl he taught pressured him for sex

IT teacher Russell Oakley, 38, arriving at the disciplinary hearing in Cardiff (Wales News Service)

A teacher who had an affair with an 18-year-old pupil is free to take up a new job, despite being sacked by his college.

Russell Oakley, 38, told a disciplinary panel the girl had led him on for sex after she found him on an online dating site.

The IT teacher, who is a divorced father of two, received a three month teaching ban from Cardiff and Vale College in Barry, South Wales, but will be able to apply for new teaching jobs by the end of the new term.

Describing the girl - whose identity has been protected - as “funny and intelligent”, Mr Oakley said he had begun his year-long sexual relationship with the pupil after he had just split up from his wife.

He said: “It was the most stressful time of my life. I was going through a divorce, trying to buy a house and worrying about my children.

“It was during this period Learner A made contact with me via a dating website."

Mr Oakley failed to tell managers at the college about his affair with the student, whom he taught for three and a half hours each week.

It was only when the girl’s father saw the teacher call at their family home in the early hours that concerns were raised.

“It lifted my spirits and made me feel good about myself,” he told the panel. “She was a funny and intelligent person and the relationship was a welcome distraction from my problems.

“I made a poor decision.”

Mr Oakley said that he had felt uneasy about the age difference but that she pressure on him to continue. He said he reluctantly agreed, despite starting a new relationship with another lecturer.

He told the Education Workforce Council panel: 'She said that she had told her mother and grandmother about the relationship and they did not mind.”

Giving evidence at the disciplinary hearing, Mr Oakley was said to be tearful and asked to be allowed to continue teaching as he said he had been offered another job.

The hearing was told that his conduct was “sexually motivated” and that he was “dishonest” about the affair by sending decoy emails.

Presenting officer Melinka Berridge said: “Oakley's decision to form a relationship was motivated by his sexual desires to fulfil his own sexual gratification.

“He became involved in a romantic relationship which developed into a sexual relationship.

“But it was terminated by Learner A when she realised he was in another relationship with another woman.

Mr Oakley faced five charges over the “inappropriate relationship” including “engaging in sexual intercourse”

Panel chair Sheila Drayton said the relationship was a serious instance of “unacceptable professional conduct”, but said he would be allowed to return after a three month suspension from teaching.

She said: “This is necessary in the public interest to maintain public confidence in the industry.”