A teacher of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who screamed in a child’s face and pushed him to the floor has been banned from the profession indefinitely.
A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) professional conduct panel found that Karen Owen, 57, “displayed behaviours associated with violence” against more than one extremely vulnerable pupil with complex needs between 2016 and 2018, while employed by St Michael’s Church of England Primary Academy in Norfolk.
Ms Owen, who was in charge of a unit catering for key stage 1 pupils with significant behavioural or emotional needs, was found to have shoved one pupil to the floor “in the sort of motion you would use to close a car door” when he attempted to get up during relaxation time.
On a separate occasion, the panel heard that she crouched down or got on her knees to be at eye-level with the same pupil, placed her hands over his, and “screamed at him” in an effort to control his behaviour.
Giving evidence to the panel, one witness said: “This was basically screaming in his face due to proximity.”
It was also alleged that Ms Owen stood on the pupil’s feet when he would not stop screaming. She maintained that this was an accident, but one witness insisted the act was deliberate.
She told the panel that Ms Owen said of the event: “I was silly yesterday and could have lost my job. [The pupil] was screaming and I was stressed.”
The TRA said four witnesses “all gave oral evidence that Ms Owen would scream at pupils on occasion and that this would happen in front of, or in the vicinity of, other pupils”.
The panel saw evidence that the pupils themselves did not confirm that the incidents occurred. But it was told that this was because they had “extremely complex needs” and “would not necessarily have understood or processed what was happening at the time”.
And despite Ms Owen’s denial, the panel found the allegations were proven “on the balance of probabilities”.
It also heard that the teacher failed to keep a record of a number of safeguarding concerns investigated by the school.
It was “particularly troubled” to note that there was evidence of five separate serious concerns in relation to one pupil, for which no records were kept. These five incidents took place within a two-month period, but no safeguarding forms were completed.
Ms Owen stated in her written evidence that she “acted upon safeguarding concerns raised with me, but did fail in maintaining timely records of my actions, for which I am truly sorry”.
She added: “I feel that I was under unprecedented pressure in terms of workload and lack of time.”
But the panel heard that Ms Owen did not commit to significant teaching time and had ample opportunity to complete her paperwork relating to safeguarding.
The panel found that Ms Owen’s behaviour amounted to misconduct of a serious nature which fell “significantly short” of the standards expected of the profession.
It accepted that she had a “previously good history”, and “acknowledged and apologised for her poor practice in keeping up-to-date safeguarding documentation”.
However, it said this acknowledgement was “limited” and Ms Owen displayed “no insight” into the impact of her physical and emotional actions against particularly vulnerable pupils.
The panel therefore recommended that Ms Owen should be banned from teaching for life, with no opportunity for review.
Its decision was upheld by Dawn Dandy, decision maker on behalf of the secretary of state.
