A Queensland special needs teacher has had his licence suspended for having sex with a student after she graduated.
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The teacher, who cannot be named for legal reasons, began having sex with his 18-year-old student within four months of her year 12 graduation. He was aged in his late 30s at the time.
Their on-and-off relationship lasted more than two years.
In 2012, the student spent a year in a high school’s special education program because of a “speech language impairment processing disorder”.
During that year, the student developed a romantic crush on her teacher, which he reported to the school, documents filed to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal revealed.
She had obtained her teacher’s mobile number from her parents’ phone and was texting him, which he also reported.
In 2013, she was allocated a different support manager at the school and graduated at the end of 2014. She was about five months off turning 19.
In January 2015, two months after graduating, she reached out to her former teacher on social media and they began a sexual relationship which continued intermittently for more than two years.
Although the teacher had reported the schoolgirl’s crush and did not begin sleeping with her until she had graduated and was 18 years old, the tribunal found it was still inappropriate given she was “vulnerable”.
The tribunal prohibited the teacher from reapplying for his registration for four years to deter other teachers entering sexual relationships with former students.
The tribunal also decided to suppress the name of the teacher to protect his mental health, which was “fragile”, and in the interests of the former student’s wellbeing.
