A school teacher who used adult chat sites with pornographic content on his school laptop during lessons has been banned from the profession.
Christian Watkinson, 48, used a “hotspot” mobile phone internet connection to bypass safety features at The Christian School in Takeley, Essex, and access the content, which included pictures of naked women, between November 2022 and May 2023.
Pupils also reported that Mr Watkinson, who was a science teacher, had regularly taken his laptop into the classroom’s chemical cupboard for up to a minute during the lessons, a Teaching Regulation Agency panel heard.
Mr Watkinson was also warned by the school about the content when the issue was first raised, but kept it visible on the laptop for months afterwards.
The panel found the teacher’s behaviour had been “exceptionally reckless” with clear safeguarding concerns, and amounted to serious misconduct.
Concern was first raised by a pupil in November 2022 after they saw an image of a half-naked woman on the classroom’s big screen, as Mr Watkinson clicked through different tabs on his computer browser to present material.
The teacher was interviewed by the school and apologised, and he acknowledged the tab showing the image should not have been open, the panel heard.
But the school subsequently conducted an investigation and examined Mr Watkinson’s school laptop after further concerns came to light in May 2023, when another pupil reported seeing inappropriate content on the device.
Screenshots taken by the school of his personal email account displayed a number of email alerts which appeared to be from adult chat sites or appeared to show adult content.
In separate statements provided to the school, two pupils said they had seen a message on Mr Watkinson’s laptop screen which read “[I] can’t wait to see you in your sexy brown underwear”.
Another pupil said they had seen material including a video of a naked woman on a bed, on the teacher’s device, while a fourth said they had seen something inappropriate on Mr Watkinson’s screen in “nearly almost every lesson”.
The school’s filtering and monitoring system did not identify the inappropriate content he had accessed, as Mr Watkinson used an independent “hotspot” internet connection and was not logged in to the school’s system.
Mr Watkinson’s repeated exposure of adult material meant there was “a strong public interest consideration in the safeguarding and wellbeing of pupils and the protection of other members of the public”, the panel found.
“The panel was of the view that his conduct ran counter to the fundamental principles of being a teacher,” it said.
“Mr Watkinson was accessing and/or engaging in adult sites and/or adult content when he was responsible for teaching and/or supervising pupils.
“Not only that, his conduct resulted in pupils viewing adult content on his laptop screen on several occasions which, in the panel’s view, was utterly unacceptable.”
The Christian School, which taught children aged seven to 16, closed in June last year.
Mr Watkinson admitted the allegations against him in December last year, but did not engage in the school’s disciplinary process and provided no evidence of insight or remorse for his actions, the panel said.
Decision-maker Marc Cavey, acting on behalf of the education secretary, banned Mr Watkinson from teaching indefinitely, with the right to apply for the order to be set aside after ten years.
