A PE teacher has been struck off after encouraging a student to play football with a broken foot and trying to persuade him to lie about it.
Oliver Barker, 28, was teaching football at Percy Hedley School in Tyne and Wear when he allowed the pupil to take part in the sport in 2023.
The child was only allowed to play in the net or practice ball skills due to the injury, at the instruction of the school’s physiotherapist.
During the PE lesson, the pupil shouted at a teaching assistant that he wanted to “play out of net”, who told him he would be sent back to a classroom if he tried to.
But minutes later, the schoolchild was on the pitch and was aggressively tackled before limping off and “rolling on the floor” while shouting in pain, a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel heard in July.
The pupil then said “Mr Barker let me play” when challenged, with witnesses telling the TRA the PE teacher had told him he could “play at his own risk”.
The same witness said Mr Barker was aware of the pupil’s injury as he had previously sat out of Mr Barker’s lesson due to his injured foot. It was understood that the student was supposed to wear a boot on his foot but refused to do so, and should not be allowed to play in the field because he “tackles aggressively and takes it too far”.
Mr Barker then asked the student to tell investigators he was in goal when the injury happened, which had been allowed by the physiotherapist as it was non-contact.
He told the pupil: “It happened when you were in goal”, to which he responded: “Nah, I was playing football and that idiot tackled us.” Mr Barker then said: “Try that again, it happened when you were in goal, didn’t it.”
Mr Barker also pulled the teaching assistant out of another class later in the day and asked her: “So what are we saying [about the accident]?”
He told her: “So he started in goal, came out, got tackled, and I didn’t say he could play.” The next day, she saw he had written a report which didn’t reflect what had happened, which she said made her feel “uncomfortable”.
Last year, Mr Barker admitted the allegations and that he was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.
TRA decision maker Marc Cavey said: “The decisions Mr Barker had made following the incident which had the effect of concealing what had happened had serious implications for safeguarding, and undermines the trust that can be placed in him.
“The panel considered that Mr Barker’s conduct could potentially damage the public’s perception of a teacher. For these reasons, the panel found that Mr Barker’s actions constituted conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.”
Mr Barker was banned indefinitely from teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.
He has the right to appeal against the decision within 28 days, and he can apply for the order to be set aside two years after it was made. If he does apply, a panel will meet to consider this.
