A teacher at EF Academy international boarding school in Oxford was barred from teaching “indefinitely” (to be reviewed in 2025) after a Department of Education misconduct hearing ruled that he had inappropriately touched two students after meeting them at a pub on the day of their final exam.
Jonathan Whitlow, a former biology teacher with over 40 years’ experience, accepted that he should not have agreed to meet “Student A” and “Student B”, aged 17 and 20 without telling his school, according to the hearing report. The hearing found that Whitlow had inappropriately touched one student on the thigh and one on the bottom, and attempted to kiss one of them, making them both feel “very shocked and uncomfortable… sufficiently concerned to speak to the school shortly after the incident.”
The judgment stated that Whitlow’s version of events was not “credible” and “lacked consistency,” but accepted that his actions were out of character and a one-off incident.
