Primary school teacher who taught her ten-year-old pupils TikTok dance was sacked by her bosses for 'condoning' under-age students using the social media platform, tribunal hears

A primary school teacher was sacked for teaching pupils as young as nine how to do a TikTok dance despite the app banning anyone under the age of 13, a tribunal has heard. 

Georgia Rogers was fired after bosses at West Grantham Church of England Primary Academy in Grantham found she had 'condoned' under-age students using the social media site.

An employment tribunal heard that the Lincolnshire-based primary school teacher also failed to report her pupils use of the app - which bans children under 13 - breaching the school's safeguarding procedure.

The hearing was told that on a later occasion the pupils asked another teacher if they could film a TikTok video and when they were told they could not they said 'Well Miss Rogers did'.

The teacher was fired after an investigation into her conduct found 'a number of small things which put together make a bigger concerning picture'.

Ms Rogers sued the school for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination, claiming she was suffering from PTSD.

Despite an employment judge saying the investigation into the TikTok allegation was 'flawed', her claims were rejected.

The Nottingham tribunal heard Miss Rogers started teaching at West Grantham Church of England Primary Academy in Lincolnshire, in September 2019.

Employment Judge Victoria Butler said Miss Rogers was 'undoubtedly a committed teacher who enjoyed her job' with a previous 'unblemished disciplinary record'.

The hearing was told that on the last day of term in July 2021, the pupils in the teachers' year five class 'wanted to show her a TikTok dance'.

Miss Rogers 'agreed' and said she would teach them the moves as she used to be a dance teacher, and she recorded it on the school's iPad.

The tribunal noted this video was not uploaded onto any social media site but highlighted how it was 'evident' that the children had been 'viewing TikTok'.

The legal age for the app is 13 and it was said that Miss Rogers did not 'report it as a safeguarding' for her underage nine to ten-year-old students.

The hearing was told that after the summer holidays, it then emerged that Miss Rogers had also been sending 'borderline unprofessional' messages to one of her students and her mother through Dojo, an online platform used by the school.

Included in the extensive messages was Miss Rogers sending the pupil a photo of her nails and telling her mum 'Bless her, I just love her' and 'Send her my love'.

EJ Butler said: 'She referred to [the pupil] as 'sweetheart' and did nothing to discourage the communication which she knew came directly from the pupil as well as her mum.'

Soon after these messages 'came to light' in September, the teacher was suspended.

An investigation ensued where a number of 'allegations' were investigated by the school.

The tribunal said there was a 'further allegation about TikTok' which occurred in October that year.

Another teacher reported that two pupils were 'repeatedly asking them to film TikTok videos' and when she said she was not allowed to - they said 'Well Miss Rogers did'.

During her disciplinary hearing, Miss Rogers said that 'whilst she was aware the children were viewing TikTok, Facebook and Instagram she explained to them that it was not appropriate to make a TikTok video in school'.

The teacher said she showed them how to do the dance they had seen on the app properly using her dance teacher background and videoed them using the school's iPad.

But, Miss Rogers 'did not log the pupils' use of TikTok as a safeguarding concern despite her knowledge that the legal age for using it was 13.

On March 10 2022, the teacher was dismissed as the investigators found Miss Rogers overall behaviour amounted to gross misconduct.

The teacher 'understood the age grading of TikTok to be aged 13' - but had taught pupils how to dance a 'recognised TikTok dance' and filmed this for them on the pupils' iPad, the investigation concluded.

In being dismissed, Miss Rogers was told: 'The panel therefore felt that this could be seen as condoning pupils to use a social media site that was not appropriate for 10 year olds.

'Furthermore, despite knowing that the students were using TikTok you did not raise this as a safeguarding concern, which you acknowledged you should have done.'

The primary school teacher appealed the decision and presented documents which, in her view, 'demonstrated that the school promoted the use of TikTok'.

These included teachers 'encouraging pupils to watch Newsround which regularly featured articles relating to TikTok'.

This appeal was rejected as the school said the 'reasons' she set out are 'not considered capable of fundamentally changing our view that your dismissal was the correct and reasonable action for the Trust to take'.

Miss Rogers was sacked and later sued for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination, claiming she was suffering from PTSD.

EJ Butler concluded that the school's investigation into the TikTok allegation was 'flawed' and as a result the allegation itself did not result in 'gross misconduct'.

However, the tribunal found dismissing Miss Rogers in relation to the other allegations was the 'reasonable response' and her claims were not upheld.