A TEACHER has been sacked from a primary school for falsely claiming she was fully qualified, a professional conduct panel has heard.

Charlotte Hawkes lied to Holy Trinity CE Primary School in Stacksteads by telling them she had passed her exams and become a newly qualified teacher when she had in fact failed her dissertation twice.

The 25-year-old also lied to Sheffield Hallam University, saying the Rossendale school knew that she was unqualified.

She then admitted to the school she was unqualified but blamed the university for maladministration.

Ms Hawkes admitted all the allegations of ‘unacceptable professional conduct’ to a Department of Education teaching panel.

Hawkes undertook a primary education degree at the university in September 2009 and was due to qualify as an NQT in September 2012.

In July 2012, Ms Hawkes discovered that she had not passed her dissertation and so could not qualify as an NQT in September 2012.

In August 2012, she re-submitted her dissertation but was informed in September 2012 that the re-submitted dissertation had failed and she would not be able to qualify as an NQT until July 2013 at the earliest.

From September 2012 until June 2013 Ms Hawkes was employed at the Stacksteads school as an NQT. She was dismissed after an internal disciplinary hearing. Paul Heathcote, decision maker for the National College for Teaching and Leadership, said there has been no suggestion that pupils have been harmed by Ms Hawkes’ conduct.

He said: “Ms Hawkes was an inexperienced teacher at the time of this conduct and has shown remorse for her actions.

“The panel have a positive character reference and a letter from her doctor regarding her medical condition at the time.”

Mr Heathcote said the panel would not be imposing a prohibition order on Hawkes, which would have banned her from unsupervised teaching.

He said: “The panel have recommended that a prohibition order would not be appropriate or proportionate – taking account of the nature and severity of Ms Hawkes behaviour and balancing this with her previous good history, her inexperience at the time of the conduct, and the inherent stresses of her first year of teaching.”