Teacher guilty over 'white trash' remark

A West Midlands teacher who described a child as "white trash" has been convicted of a race hate crime.

Jane Turner was convicted at Halesowen Magistrates Court of an offence of using racially threatening words or behaviour likely to cause harassment or distress, after intervening in a heated argument between a group of children near a school.

She was working at Moseley School in Birmingham at the time.

During the dispute a parent of one of the children reported hearing her say: "Go and play with your own little white friends, you're nothing but white trash."

After she was reported to police, Mrs Turner initially denied using the phrase but later admitted she had said "white trash" and has since apologised.

She was made subject of a community order for one year with a requirement to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work, and was ordered to pay compensation of £50.

The General Teaching Council also investigated and yesterday announced its conclusions. It criticised her for "unacceptable professional conduct" but stopped short of suspending her from teaching over the incident, which took place in April 2009.

The body did not reveal where it took place, other than to say it was 20 miles from the specialist language college in Birmingham where she worked.

The GTC committee reported: "Mrs Turner accepts that making a comment like this amounts to unprofessional conduct. Mrs Turner accepts that her words on this occasion may have been perceived as racist and that it is entirely inappropriate for a registered teacher to make such a comment."

The report said Mrs Turner's behaviour "set a very bad example for the schoolchildren who were present at the time".

The teacher was issued with a reprimand that will remain on her professional registration for two years.