Teaching ban for assistant head who gave false marks.
After admitting to deliberately giving false marks for pupils’ coursework, an assistant headteacher has been banned from the classroom.
Colin Laughton had worked at Hebburn Comprehensive School in South Tyneside for more than 23 years when discrepancies in marks he awarded were found by an exam board.
Forty nine year old Laughton faced a disciplinary hearing by the Teaching Regulatory Authority which judged that he should be banned from teaching indefinitely. The panel heard that between May and July 2019, Laughton awarded false marks for internally assessed components of one or more pupils’ coursework where there was no evidence to justify the marks awarded.
The panel found that when the board notified him that a pupil’s work needed to be submitted for moderation, “he noticed that Pupil A had not completed the relevant coursework, and decided to submit the work of Pupil B instead”.
The disciplinary panel’s report said: “In a management interview which took place on July 17 2019, Mr Laughton had provided context for his decision but stated, ‘there is no one else to blame but me’. Mr Laughton also commented to the panel that certain of his actions “disgust him professionally and personally”, and the panel “considered this to be an indication of remorse”.
After a minimum of two years, Laughton can apply for the ban, ordered on behalf of the Education Secretary, to be reviewed.