Queensland drama teacher tells students sexual favours required to act

A teacher has lost his registration after he told students to "strap their kneepads on" and get ready to give sexual favours if they wanted to act.

A Queensland drama teacher has been suspended for two years after he advised his students to be ready to perform sexual acts if they wanted to be actors.

The man, referred to as CMH in tribunal documents, first became a teacher back in 1995 and was working at a Queensland high school when he was suspended in October 2017.

His registration with the Queensland College of Teachers was cancelled last month after months of investigation.

The investigation centred on two male students, who were in Year 12 last year when they made the allegations against the drama teacher.

The boys claimed during an after-school drama tutorial, the teacher told them about "casting couch" situations where "young actors have to perform sexual acts in order to secure acting roles", the document read.

"CMH told the students about sexual acts he had performed in order to secure acting roles, including giving oral sex. He used the term 'blow jobs' and spoke of the need to wear knee pads and offered to buy knee pads for the students."

The teacher also asked one of the boys to keep their conversation secret and told him he would listen to any of the teenager's problems.

The boys also said the teacher acted inappropriately on "numerous occasions".

In one situation, one of the boys said the teacher was in the drama room with him "assisting him to dress and undress in costumes, many of which were tight and revealing", the document read.

The teacher also regularly "unnecessarily touched him on the thigh, left the student for periods of time in his underpants, asked the student to walk around the stage and jump and squat in speedos and commented on his 'very big bulge'".

The teacher admitted some of the allegations but also denied others — including the kneepads and bulge comment.

The tribunal did not accept the allegation regarding the "very big bulge" comment had been proven.

Both the students were interviewed regarding their stories about the teacher, and a tutor, who helped the teacher and was often present at the afternoon classes, was also interviewed.

The teacher admitted he had spoken about the "casting couch" and had also said the kneepads comment.

But the teacher said he described it in a "blokey way" and said some directors expected emerging actors to invest in a pair of kneepads, and he had been a victim of this when he was a young director.

The teacher admitted he "can now see" his conversation with the two students was inappropriate.

In their interviews, both boys said they awkwardly laughed when the teacher spoke about investing in kneepads, and both of them thought it was "weird".

One student did admit, however, the teacher's actions did not make him feel "overly" uncomfortable.

Despite that, through their interviews with the two boys and the female tutor, the tribunal was satisfied there were grounds for disciplinary action.

The teacher was prohibited from trying to re-register as a teacher until October 23 of this year, bringing his total suspension to two years.

If he wants to teach again, he will have to give the state's college of teachers a full psychological report.