Two “thoroughly dishonest” teachers who forged a driving licence and conspired to cheat in a basic skills test have been banned from the profession for a decade.

Ahmed Maayuf planned in a “deliberate and calculated way” to attend the exam on behalf of his colleague Michael Taylor - who has a string of criminal convictions he kept secret.

The pair both worked at Eastbrook Comprehensive School in Dagenham. Mr Maayuf was second in charge of the maths department and Mr Taylor was an unqualified temporary teacher.

Mr Maayuf planned to impersonate Mr Taylor, and turned up at the Ilford Pearson Professional Centre in October 2009 to take a numeracy test that Mr Taylor needed to achieve qualified teacher status. He took with him the forged driving licence.

Both admitted the deception and resigned following an investigation at the school. Mr Taylor said he was the instigator and added that he forged the document. Mr Maayuf supplied him with a photograph.

Mr Taylor had previously been convicted of 12 offences between 1972 and 1986, including theft, forgery, deception, cannabis possession and assault occasioning actual bodily harm - for which he was jailed for one month.

The crimes, which all happened in London, began when Mr Taylor was a juvenile. He did not declare them when registering with the General Teaching Council for England (GTC).

Banning both men, GTC panel chair Alison Fisher said the “attempted deception to which both teachers contributed substantially is very serious”.

“While the parts played by each teacher are different, we have decided that both Mr Taylor and Mr Maayuf behaved in a way that was deliberate, calculated and premeditated,” she said.

“They embarked on a course of conduct which was thoroughly dishonest. Teachers should lead by example. This was an attempt to gain qualified teacher status for Mr Taylor by cheating and demonstrated a complete absence of honesty and integrity on the part of both men.”

The GTC panel decided to give both men the 10-year bans because both “participated willingly” in the deception.

“The public should be able to rely absolutely on the proper and fair administration of exams and tests for pupils, let alone teachers themselves,” their ruling said.

“In this instance, Mr Taylor and Mr Maayuf conspired together to practice a deception which, if successful, would have led to Mr Taylor himself obtaining a qualification to which he was not entitled.

“Even when he was aware that there was an investigation into his conduct, Mr Taylor did not volunteer his involvement in this attempt to cheat.”

The disciplinary panel noted that Mr Maayuf had expressed regret for what had happened, but it said it could not overlook the fact that he was “wholly complicit in this attempt to cheat”.

The GTC said both men had abused the positions of trust that came with being registered or trainee teachers.

“Regrettably, both respondents have, in our judgment, demonstrated behaviour . which makes it incompatible for them to continue as registered teachers.”

BANNED - `Can’t change’

A teacher who regularly hugged and put his arms around pupils and embraced and held hands with a young girl has been banned from the profession for two years.

Mark Burns, who taught at Broadbottom CofE Primary in Cheshire, also ripped up a comic belonging to a child with special educational needs and discussed the murder of English student Meredith Kercher in Perugia with pupils, the GTC found.

He admitted while being investigated that “he would probably make the same mistakes again and didn’t feel as if he could change”.

• Original headline: Cheating duo get 10-year ban for skills exam `fix’