Teacher cleared of having sex with pupil, 16

[Torquemada]

A trainee teacher who was accused of having sex with a 16-year-old pupil has been found not guilty.



Hannah McIntyre, 25, had denied one count of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.



Liverpool Crown Court heard claims that Miss McIntyre, of Waterloo, Merseyside, seduced the boy after giving him cider.



Asked if she was angry about the false allegations, she added: "Anger is not first among my thoughts right now.



"But he has, with no accountability, made an accusation and I would like to see him have to realise the effect he has had on me."



Miss McIntyre said her teaching career, a path inspired by her English teacher mother, was now in tatters but declined to say what her future plans were.



BBC News - Merseyside teacher cleared of having sex with pupil, 16



So anybody like to hazard a guess as to what will happen to the false accuser considering his lies have in all probability ruined a professional career?

[GoggleboxUK]

name='Torquemada']



So anybody like to hazard a guess as to what will happen to the false accuser considering his lies have in all probability ruined a professional career?

Most likely nothing.



It really annoys me the way schoolchildren have adopted a zero accountability stance these days. I recently overheard a 12 year old screaming at her parents that she was "going to call Childline" because her mother had refused her a McDonalds for tea.



Schoolkids these days are untouchable and they know it. It's my opinion that this lack of discipline will have disasterous repercussions on the adult society of the future. This case is a prime example and the child should be made an example of to curb repeat occurences.

[Steve Crook]

name='GoggleboxUK']I recently overheard a 12 year old screaming at her parents that she was "going to call Childline" because her mother had refused her a McDonalds for tea.

The mother should have let her, then they would have laughed at the child and told her off for being so selfish and wasting their time



Steve

[Torquemada]

I can confirm nothing will happen. He will not even have been told off in school for this. He will turn up on Monday as if nothing had happened. My friend is an NUT rep and he has had to deal with a few cases like this. Successive governments have sold out teachers, letting them always face their accusers with no defence and then everyone squeals when teachers and schools are risk averse.

[Dame Starry]

name='GoggleboxUK']It really annoys me the way schoolchildren have adopted a zero accountability stance these days.

Once they'd adopted it for themselves, this government extended it to children and various other groups.



It's 'the norm' now - we live in a no-blame society.

[Windthrop]

name='GoggleboxUK']Most likely nothing.



It really annoys me the way schoolchildren have adopted a zero accountability stance these days. I recently overheard a 12 year old screaming at her parents that she was "going to call Childline" because her mother had refused her a McDonalds for tea.



Schoolkids these days are untouchable and they know it. It's my opinion that this lack of discipline will have disasterous repercussions on the adult society of the future. This case is a prime example and the child should be made an example of to curb repeat occurences.

Here, here. Those crying wolf are doing a disservice to those who really have something to complain about.



Name and shame them !

[GRAEME]

name='Windthrop']Here, here. Those crying wolf are doing a disservice to those who really have something to complain about.



Name and shame them !

The problem is the cases that ARE true but not proved. If an accuser will be dragged publicly through the mud IF their case doesn't hold up - it might make some genuine victims think twice about coming forward.



It is a difficult issue. Rape cases, for example, so seldom result in convictions that if every accuser in each case were publicly liable - women would NEVEr come forward at all. I fear the same would be true in child abuse cases.



The problem used to be that children were never believed - now, it seems there is a swing the other way, but all accusations must be investigated as seriously as they can - even if that means some wrongful allegations go to court. Hopefully, as in this case, the truth will out.



What does need changing is the fact that even when cleared, accusations do often mean the end of a career in teaching or caring - that is serious misjustice.

[Tonch]

name='Dame Starry']Once they'd adopted it for themselves, this government extended it to children and various other groups.



It's 'the norm' now - we live in a no-blame society.

Absolutely spot on Dame S. But I'd say the culpability extends further than just to the current government. An unfortunate downside to the tory mantra of "choice" is the knee jerk cop out of "not part of my responsibility".



Regarding teacher / pupil dynamics... thinking back to my own childhood in the 60s/early 70s, the best and most respected teachers were those who drew very clearly defined boundaries and brooked no nonsense, without losing a sense of humour or perspective. I only ever encountered a couple of brutal/bullying ogre type teachers in my days as a pupil - they were feared but resented, whereas the vast majority were reasonably strict, but always fair - and consequently respected and heeded. Kids prefer to know what the limits are.



There was an older chap being interviewed on local radio the other morning, he was discussing his (grown up) children and how, in his opinion, they discuss things at too much length with his grandchildren, rather than "telling" them how certain things had to be. He didn't sound a martinet, but said he felt rather exasperated that his grandchildren's generation were being shortchanged by being treated as small adults who deserved long, bargaining debates, rather than as immature people who would benefit from the limitations explained - then gently but firmly imposed - by senior wisdom.

[billy bentley]

The same thing happens here in New York City and I'm sure across the USA. A student makes an accusation and it gets taken seriously,as it should be. But there never seems much of a mechanism to help the wrongly accused. I used to be a "Parent Chaperone" on school trips and twice got in hot water for "manhandling students". Once I grabbed a student by the arm that was about to get lost in a huge crowd , another time I halted a student that had just sent another kid flying in a Public library, fortunately for me I wasn't a teacher ! But I did have to stop volunteering.

[ShirlGirl]

Who'd be a teacher these days!



When I was a child, children didn't have any rights. We had to do as we were told, no questions asked. We knew who was 'boss'........... the adult.



Now it has gone to the other extreme and the child is the 'boss'.



How did that happen?

[GoggleboxUK]

name='billy bentley']The same thing happens here in New York City and I'm sure across the USA. A student makes an accusation and it gets taken seriously,as it should be. But there never seems much of a mechanism to help the wrongly accused. I used to be a "Parent Chaperone" on school trips and twice got in hot water for "manhandling students". Once I grabbed a student by the arm that was about to get lost in a huge crowd , another time I halted a student that had just sent another kid flying in a Public library, fortunately for me I wasn't a teacher ! But I did have to stop volunteering.

There's the rub: Good people with sensible heads on their shoulders are denied the opportunity to make a difference because the new boundaries are far too easy to overstep, even in situations that blatently require an intervention.



What happens when every right-thinking adult has come up against a situation where it becomes easier to step away than continue?



Lord of the Flies.

[Torquemada]

It's also a matter of humility and respect. How can a generation of children grow up with any respect for anything if they don't find out they aren't actually as clever as they think they are til they have to actually make their way in the world? Because schools and teachers are only allowed to be positive these days and negative comments are very much frowned upon by government, parents and pupils.



The acquitted teacher has just been on the local news saying she never wants to be in the company of another pupil ever again and wants her accuser prosecuted. Good for her and of course the only reason she has been free to express her true feelings is because she obviously has no intention of ever going back into teaching. Pity those who have to lump it.

[Rowdon]

name='ShirlGirl']



When I was a child, children didn't have any rights. We had to do as we were told, no questions asked. We knew who was 'boss'........... the adult.



Now it has gone to the other extreme and the child is the 'boss'.



How did that happen?

I don't know - but maybe we have to live through this other extreme so that we finally achieve some balance, in a decade or so ... ? (Which doesn't mean there should be no blame, responsibility, punishment in the meantime, obviously).

[Steve Crook]

name='Torquemada']It's also a matter of humility and respect. How can a generation of children grow up with any respect for anything if they don't find out they aren't actually as clever as they think they are til they have to actually make their way in the world?

Luckily, most children are very nice, as respectful of authority as we ever were and are willing to learn new things. But the vast majority of children, or any people, don't get reported in the newspapers.



There always were a few feral ones, even in the old days. Sometimes they even survived to adulthood. But they are, and always were, just a vanishingly small minority.



Steve

[Torquemada]

name='Steve Crook']Luckily, most children are very nice, as respectful of authority as we ever were and are willing to learn new things. But the vast majority of children, or any people, don't get reported in the newspapers.



There always were a few feral ones, even in the old days. Sometimes they even survived to adulthood. But they are, and always were, just a vanishingly small minority.



Steve

The teachers I know all say that there's at least one pain in backside in every class these days and that one disrupts the learning of the other good kids. If I were one of the good kid's parents I would get together with the others and demand to know why all their children's learning was suffering because of one little git that wouldn't behave and the teachers had no pwoers to make them behave.

[GoggleboxUK]

These 'bad apples' are segregated in part but this scheme usually relies upon volunteers who are willing to put up with their nonsense. If these children bring about a situation where, as Billy described earlier, an adult restrains them, even loses their temper for the briefest of seconds through sheer frustration, it is likely that that volunteer's services will be no longer of value to a school cautious of scandal.



These children are aware of the rules and are keen to take advantage with no thought for others.

[Torquemada]

name='GoggleboxUK']These 'bad apples' are segregated in part but this scheme usually relies upon volunteers who are willing to put up with their nonsense. If these children bring about a situation where, as Billy described earlier, an adult restrains them, even loses their temper for the briefest of seconds through sheer frustration, it is likely that that volunteer's services will be no longer of value to a school cautious of scandal.



These children are aware of the rules and are keen to take advantage with no thought for others.

Some 'bad apples' are, but most aren't. Many schools don't even allow pupils to be even sent to stand outside for even a short period never mind segregation.

[GoggleboxUK]

name='Torquemada']Some 'bad apples' are, but most aren't. Many schools don't even allow pupils to be even sent to stand outside for even a short period never mind segregation.

Some educational reform neccessary perhaps? I only really have experience of my son's school although I do know a student teacher in his final year. He also works at a children's home with 'difficult' cases and despairs at the rules enforced by schools over discipline.

[Torquemada]

name='GoggleboxUK']Some educational reform neccessary perhaps? I only really have experience of my son's school although I do know a student teacher in his final year. He also works at a children's home with 'difficult' cases and despairs at the rules enforced by schools over discipline.

I'm afraid it's a case of rules? What rules? In many schools today.

[billy bentley]

Gogglebox, in the case of the girl about to be lost in a large exiting theatre crowd, a male teacher told me afterwards that if he had not been able to stop her without physically touching her, he would not have grabbed her arm. "That could mean my job" he said. How sad is that ?