A registered teacher’s pre-registration conduct may, in some cases, be considered by the Ontario College of Teachers’ (the “OCT”) Discipline Committee in determining whether a Member is guilty of professional misconduct.
This was explicitly recognized in Ontario College of Teachers v Byam, where a Member was accused of physically, emotionally, or sexually abusing a student after the student turned 18 years old, and during a period where the Member was employed by the school board as an educational assistant at the school where the student attended, but was not yet a registered teacher. The Member was criminally charged with sexual exploitation and sexual assault of the student, but was found not guilty and acquitted of all charges. In the context of the discipline proceeding, the Member acknowledged that she had had sexual intercourse with the student on one occasion after he became 18 years old.
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