Greytown teacher struck off after calling students 'sluts', 'wankers' and worse

A teacher has been deregistered for repeated swearing at students at Kuranui College in Greytown. Photo / File

A Wairarapa teacher has been deregistered after repeatedly swearing at students.

Patricia Joanne Webster, who taught at Kuranui College in Greytown from 2004 until she was dismissed in May last year, has also been censured and ordered to pay $4733 in costs for the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal process.

Complaints from students and their parents about her swearing dated back to 2010, when she was alleged to have called students "wankers" or "sluts".

In 2011 five students alleged that Webster yelled at them during a singing class, "If you are not going to sing you can f*** off back to class".

In 2012 parents complained that she yelled repeatedly at their son and prevented him from providing technical support for artistic productions. Webster said at the time that she yelled at the student because he had climbed a 5m ladder without a harness and she was concerned for his safety.

In 2014 several students complained that she told a student to "shut the f*** up". Webster acknowledged that she used "strong language" but explained that she was upset that equipment had not been set up correctly for a concert.

In 2015 students alleged that she called one student "a prick", said "for f***'s sake" when a student knocked over a guitar, and told another student, "I really want to punch you in the face right now." Webster admitted swearing but said she did it in "stressful" situations.

Finally last year a student recorded her on video belittling a student and calling him "a dick".

This time the school found that "the tone and mannerisms demonstrated in this video were not of a standard expected of a teacher and meet the definition of bullying". She was dismissed and referred to the disciplinary tribunal.

The tribunal said that "ordinarily some form of supervision or mentoring might have been appropriate for conduct of this kind".

However Webster did not respond to the case against her and the tribunal found that her failure to engage constituted further "serious misconduct".

"In doing so, we send a clear message that a teacher who fails to engage with the investigation arm of its professional and regulatory body risks his or her registration," it said.

It censured her and cancelled her teaching registration.