Female physics teacher who was fired for flirting with a sixth form pupil spared being struck off
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Female physics teacher fired for flirting with sixth-grade student and telling him he’d get a ‘big prize’ if he went to Cambridge University is spared from dismissal
- Teacher told student he could ‘ask her for a great reward’ if he entered Cambridge
- Qingqing Duan asked if he ‘viewed her as a teacher, girlfriend, friend or soulmate’
- Boy, known as student A’s parents, contacted the school and expressed concern
- The Brentwood School Physics Teacher Was Fired, But Wasn’t Fired
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A female physics teacher who was fired for flirting with a sixth-grade student and telling him he’d get a “great reward” if he went to Cambridge University is being spared dismissal.
Newly graduated Ms. Qingqing Duan emailed the boy late into the night and early morning while she was working at Brentwood School in Essex.
She gave the student, named only student A, a handwritten note with her phone number and messaged him that he was “sweet” and her boyfriend was out of work, adding, “Maybe you’re my first student who goes to Cambridge. [smile face emoji]. If you make it, you may ask me for a major award.”
During a misconduct hearing, she was told she also gave Student A personal information, including about a crush she had on a teacher, and told him not to share it.
Qingping Duan was a recently graduated physics teacher at Brentwood School in Essex (pictured)
She asked if student A “viewed her as a teacher, girlfriend, friend or soul mate” and told him she would give him a present if he got a grade 9.
She chatted with student A outside of class that he “had a crush on her” and, apparently concerned about the note, warned him, “Don’t do anything crazy if you want to be friends – and destroy the letter.”
Ms. Duan’s bosses have received an email from student A’s parents expressing their concerns.
There has been an interview with the parents of student A. Ms. Duan was suspended and discharged after a disciplinary hearing later that month.
The teacher was fired from her
During the misconduct hearing, she admitted to the allegations and also failed to adhere to proper professional boundaries with sixth-year students by hugging them prior to an exam.
But she avoided an injunction after Neil Hillman, who chaired the Coventry Teaching Regulation Agency hearing, underlined: “The panel also took into account Ms Duan’s regret for the incidents and felt she had shown a level of insight into her shortcomings as a teacher, especially her inability to fully understand or appreciate safety issues and professional boundaries, as well as the need to improve her behavior management.
‘This was apparent from the fact that Ms. Duan voluntarily followed additional security training after her discharge.’