Blackpool teacher with 'unblemished record' convicted of assault and hit with 2-year classroom ban
“The public has a high expectation of professional standards of all teachers.”
A teacher with an unblemished record who was a positive role model for 'vulnerable' children has been banned from the classroom for two years after being convicted of assault.
A disciplinary panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) imposed the penalty on Blackpool teacher Kenley Imo, who was employed by Lancashire County Council at a pupil referral unit. Imo had previously been employed at The Larches unit in Preston but was based in Blackpool and had worked at a unit in the town.
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The hearing was told Imo had been convicted of assault causing actual bodily harm (ABH) at Lancaster Magistrates Court. He was sentenced to a community order with an unpaid work requirement of 150 hours and compensation of £250, which sparked a TRA investigation.
The offence, dating from 2025, had taken part outside of school and did not involve a child but the panel decided Imo had failed to 'uphold trust in the teaching profession and maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour both inside and outside the school'.
Panel Decision Maker David Oatley accepted the assault was caused by a 'scuffle which got out of hand' and that Imo had an 'unblemished' record as a teacher. Imo told the panel he had taken courses in conflict management run by the probation service since his conviction but accepted he should never have become involved in an assault in the first place.
He said: "I would have dealt with it better if I had locked myself in the house and let the police deal with it." And he claimed he was 'well equipped' for the future to deal with any kind of conflict.
Panel members said Imo worked with children who are 'vulnerable and have challenging behaviours' and there was a need for their teacher to act as a 'positive role model'.
In their report, the disciplinary hearing said: "Whilst this was an isolated incident, the panel was concerned that Mr Imo had demonstrated significantly poor lack of judgment. In particular, the panel considered that Mr Imo had several opportunities to de-escalate the situation."
Evidence from a church pastor who said Imo had been elected as 'head elder' was also taken into consideration. However, the panel concluded Imo has breached the standard to 'hold public trust in the profession and maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour, within and outside school'.
Mr Oatley said: "The panel considered that public confidence in the profession could be seriously weakened if conduct such as that found against Mr Imo were not treated with the utmost seriousness.
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"I am particularly mindful of the finding of a conviction for an assault which resulted in injury to another person in this case and the impact that such a finding has on the reputation of the profession.
“I have had to consider that the public has a high expectation of professional standards of all teachers and that the public might regard a failure to impose a prohibition order as a failure to uphold those high standards."
The decision means Imo is banned from teaching indefinitely but can apply to have the prohibition order, which is sanctioned by the Secretary of State for Education, lifted on April 17, 2028.