Matthew Hoare, 34, had already left the teaching profession when his explicit social media presence was discovered (Picture: Google)
A primary school teacher has been banned from the profession after he shared explicit images of himself with roughly 10,000 followers online.
Matthew Hoare, 34, admitted posting ‘hundreds’ of images, including pictures of his genitals and anus, and videos of him performing sex acts, on his X account.
Some of these videos were filmed in public places, a report into his actions said.
He made no explicit mention of his job, or the school where he’d worked, and there is no suggestion his content ever included anyone underage.
But it was enough for a parent to raise concerns with the headteacher of Three Peaks Primary Academy in Tamworth in March 2023, despite Mr Hoare leaving in June the year before.
Now Mr Hoare has been struck off indefinitely by a professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA).
It concluded Mr Hoare’s actions online to be ‘unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute’.
Mr Hoare accepted this claim.
He had been accused of posting ‘inappropriate content’ including sexually explicit pictures, videos and messages, as well as comments about drug use, on X, between August 2018 and August 2022, while employed at the school.
Mr Hoare accepted that he did indeed own the account and had posted the sexually explicit pictures and images.
But he claims not to have started publishing content of himself until 2020, when ‘he was unhappy with a lot of elements in his life’, despite opening the account for personal use in 2018.
The 34-year-old also accepted posting references to drug us, but said this referred to ‘poppers’.
While legal, they are still ‘subject to restrictions on supply in certain circumstances’.
The panel said it was not their place to cast judgement on Mr Hoare’s private life and actions, which took place outside of an educational setting.
But the public nature of his X account, where anyone could see his content, meant it was ‘not purely conduct that had occurred within his private life’.
In its report, the panel said: ‘The findings of misconduct were extremely serious, and the conduct displayed would be very likely to have a negative impact on Mr Hoare’s status as a teacher and the wider profession as whole.’
Mr Hoare has been banned for life from teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.
He can appeal this decision within a 28-day window, after which he loses any right to apply for this ban to be lifted.
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