A teacher who let teens pose topless for an art project gets a UK-wide ban

Emma Wright had claimed the naked pictures were, in fact, 'art'.

Emma Wright had taught at Huxlow Science College.

A teacher who allowed her pupils to go topless and simulate sex acts for a school project has been banned from the profession.

Emma Wright received her ban after the Teaching Regulation Agency thoroughly reviewed her actions at Huxlow Science College in Northamptonshire. Despite the severe nature of the allegations against her, it was heard how the 41-year-old still believed the children’s actions were not 'inappropriate' and were, in fact, 'art', reports Northamptonshire Live.

Wright had been an art teacher at the college for thirteen years at the time of the incident, with her students all being teenagers - some under the age of fifteen - when the project took place.

The Teaching Regulation Agency found photographs taken as part of an art project included some teenage girls wearing underwear and posing with their hands covering their breasts. Others also took pictures of them simulating sex acts and holding cigarettes or alcohol containers.

The photos were only uncovered during internal moderation of some Year 11 student art portfolios where staff found "inappropriate photographs and artwork". The pictures were said to be in the style of a new artist that Wright had introduced to her students, but the teacher said she never expected her pupils "to be naked" for the art.

A breakdown of the findings revealed that the pictures displayed children:

• Wearing only underwear.

• Holding cigarettes and/or alcohol containers.

• With their hands covering their otherwise naked breasts.

• With alcohol containers covering their otherwise naked breasts.

• They were posing with their hand inside their underwear.

In evidence during the Teaching Regulation Agency hearing, Wright said that "art is a process" but acknowledged that she should have challenged the pictures earlier and raised the issue with her line manager. However, she did not, with the naked images going ahead without question.

The Teaching Regulation Agency panel said before the incident Wright had been a "competent and experienced teacher" but that she fell way below standards during the art project. The lead decision-maker Alan Meyrick also said the teacher had shown little remorse for allowing the naked pictures to go ahead.

"The panel found that Ms Wright had not fully reflected, some four years after the event. In particular, the panel found that Ms Wright had not fully accepted that the fifteen photographs of the pupils were inappropriate," he said.

"Although she had stated that with hindsight, those other people may view the artwork as inappropriate, Mrs Wright did not accept that the photographs of the pupils were inappropriate."

The Teaching Regulation Agency said it considered Wright a risk to students and banned her from teaching across the UK. She cannot apply for a review of the ban until 2024.