Teacher who filmed pupils fighting and playing with fire extinguishers in the classroom is suspended for a year



Suspended: Alex Dolan, who used a hidden camera to film shocking scenes of pupils fighting in the classroom, was found guilty of unprofessional conduct

A teacher who filmed shocking scenes of pupils misbehaving for a TV documentary was found guilty of unprofessional conduct and suspended for a year yesterday.

Alex Dolan took work as a supply teacher and used a hidden camera to film life at four secondary schools while working in London and Leeds in 2005.

The footage, shown in a Channel 4 Dispatches programme in July that year, showed children fighting and refusing to work and one school attempting to conceal staffing problems from Ofsted.



But the General Teaching Council conduct committee has now ruled the science teacher breached the trust of pupils and abused her position.



Speaking after the hearing, Miss Dolan, 33, accused the GTC of sweeping its own failures under the carpet.

'I acted fairly and in the wider public interest by exposing the extent of, and damage done, by poor discipline in many classrooms in the schools, the deception by teachers of school inspectors, and the manipulation of exam results,' she said.

'I find it beyond comprehension that the GTC can spend three years investigating me when they should be looking on their own doorstep.

'Instead, they have decided to sweep it under the carpet and persecute the whistle-blower.

'The GTC conduct committee are out of touch with what really concerns teachers, parents and pupils and have missed a chance to act as a catalyst for change.'

The ruling is in stark contrast to other decisions by the GTC, which has been accused of being over-lenient towards other teachers.

Anarchy: Footage captured by Alex Dolan in secondary schools and shown in the Channel 4 Dispatches programme revealed pupils fighting with each other in the classroom

Just last month, a teacher who admitted using crack cocaine and falling asleep in lessons was allowed to keep his job.

Education experts described the ruling against Miss Dolan as 'perverse'.

Nick Seaton, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: 'There is a complete wall of silence about failings in our education system and we need people like Alex Dolan to expose them.

'People who reveal genuine problems should be protected, not singled out for condemnation.'

Miss Dolan, from Cambridge, took the secret footage while working in London and Leeds in 2005.

It was broadcast in July that year after a High Court judge refused to issue an injunction sought by Leeds City Council, ruling that the programme served important public interests.

The film, called Undercover Teacher, showed pupils swearing, running on tables, making mobile phone calls and playing with fire extinguishers.

One class of teenagers at a failing comprehensive were revealed to have had 26 supply teachers in six months.

In this image, a pupil grabs a fire extinguisher and fires it at classmates. Miss Dolan was backed by the former Chief Inspector of School Chris Woodhead, who said there was a public interest in seeing the reality in the classroom

During the GTC hearing, Miss Dolan, who denied one charge of unacceptable professional conduct, said her motives had been 'entirely honourable' and that she made the film to highlight the plight of children failed by the education system.

She was backed by former head of Ofsted Chris Woodhead, who was the Chief Inspector of Schools in England from 1994 to 2000.

He told the panel: 'It is highly in the public interest that parents, teachers, and the politicians responsible for schools and education understand the reality of what is happening in classrooms.'

The programme's executive producer said it had exposed the 'real face' of schools.

But the panel, which sat in Birmingham, said the public interest issues raised by the film did not justify the use of covert filming.

Chairman Ralph Ullmann said: 'We do not accept that there were no other means by which they could have been brought to the attention of the public.'

He added: 'We have concluded that her actions, given her registered teacher status, were ultimately misguided.

'We are satisfied that covert filming of pupils by a registered teacher is unacceptable, other than in wholly exceptional circumstances.'

Supply teacher Angela Mason, 60, was banned from teaching for a year in 2007 after secretly filming pupils fighting and swearing for a Channel 5 documentary.

The channel said at the time the decision amounted to 'shooting the messenger'.

