EX-NOTTINGHAM TEACHER HANDED LIFETIME BAN AFTER PUPIL CASE
A former Nottingham teacher has been given a lifetime ban from the profession after allegations were made of a historical relationship with a pupil at a previous school he worked at in Derby.The relationship began while Joel Mansell was teaching at Noel-Baker Community School, in Alvaston, in the early 2000s, but the allegations only came to light while he was working at the Bluecoat Wollaton Academy in Nottingham many years later.
The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel heard the 48-year-old met the pupil, only referred to as Pupil A, and they began a relationship.
After the allegations were made in 2018, a hearing decided that he had entered into a sexual relationship with a pupil, which resulted in her "losing her virginity" to him.
Mansell had qualified as a teacher in 1997.
In 2001, he started working as a teacher at Noel-Baker before leaving in 2006 to join the Bluecoat Wollaton Academy.
He admitted that he had spoken with Pupil A by telephone about non-school matters, met her after school unaccompanied and drove her to her home unaccompanied, but he denied meeting her at his home, providing her with alcohol when she was underage, and having sexual intercourse with her.
He also denied his behaviour was sexually motivated and that he failed to "observe a proper boundary appropriate to a teacher’s professional position".
Pupil A described swapping numbers with Mansell after receiving lifts home from him, and said he would ring her landline and they spoke on multiple occasions.
She also mentioned being alone with Mansell in his flat on several occasions and spending the day with him in Nottingham.
She described her loss of virginity to Mansell in his flat, which she described as "quite bare" and "having a musty smell".
The panel considered her evidence credible, despite some inconsistencies, which they attributed to the passage of time, and found her account to be truthful.
The panel more likely than not concluded that Mansell had engaged in a sexual relationship with Pupil A, an act considered incompatible with the standards expected of a teacher.
Delivering a lifetime ban, Alan Meyrick, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, stated: "Mr Mansell's conduct was at the most serious end of the spectrum in regard to sexual misconduct and the breach of trust between a teacher and pupil." The panel emphasized the breach of trust and the gravity of Mansell's misconduct, with him having the right to appeal within 28 days of notice of the prohibition order.
