Miss Fisun Ahmet

The Secretary of State does not make these decisions themselves. They are made by a senior official on the recommendation of an independent panel. 

Teacher's name: Miss Fisun Ahmet

Location teacher worked: Welwyn Garden City, East of England

Date of professional conduct panel: 17 to 19 July 2024

Outcome type: No order made

Notice is hereby given that, in accordance with The Teacher's’ Disciplinary (England) Regulations 2012, a professional conduct panel was convened to consider the case of Miss Fisun Ahmet formerly employed in Welwyn Garden City, East of England.

Teacher misconduct

Ground Floor, South

Cheylesmore House

5 Quinton RoadCoventryCV1 2WT

Email TRA.Casework@education.gov.uk

Telephone 020 7593 5393

Information about regulating the teaching profession and the process for dealing with serious teacher misconduct.

Miss Fisun Ahmet: Professional conduct panel outcome Panel decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education July 2024 2 Contents Introduction 3 Allegations 4 Preliminary applications 4 Summary of evidence 7 Documents 7 Witnesses 7 Decision and reasons 7 Findings of fact 8 Panel’s recommendation to the Secretary of State 17 Decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State 22 3 Professional conduct panel decision and recommendations, and decision on behalf of the Secretary of State Teacher: Miss Fisun Ahmet Teacher ref number: 1047014 Teacher date of birth: 21 July 1984 TRA reference: 0022319 Date of determination: 19 July 2024 Former employer: Knightsfield School, Welwyn Garden City Introduction A professional conduct panel (‘the panel’) of the Teaching Regulation Agency (‘the TRA’) convened on 17 to 19 July 2024 by way of a virtual hearing, to consider the case of Miss Fisun Ahmet. The panel members were Mr Paul Millett (lay panellist – in the chair), Mrs Lynn Seal (teacher panellist) and Mrs Pamela Thompson (lay panellist). The legal adviser to the panel was Ms Maddie Taylor of Birketts LLP solicitors. The presenting officer for the TRA was Miss Matilda Heselton of Browne Jacobson LLP solicitors. Miss Ahmet was present but was represented by Ms Emma Thomas of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT). The hearing took place by way of a virtual hearing in public and was recorded. 4 Allegations The panel considered the allegations set out in the notice of proceedings dated 11 April 2024, as amended during the hearing. It was alleged that Miss Ahmet was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, in that whilst employed as a Teacher of ICT at the Knightsfield School between January 2014 and March 2023: 1. In respect of the OCR Cambridge Nationals in Creative iMedia Qualification in or around November 2022, she provided one or more pupils with improper and/or excessive assistance, in that she provided one or more pupils with; a. t he live set assessment scenario and/or detailed instructions for completing the tasks for the assessment; b. a PowerPoint containing headings, and/or points to address in answering the live assessment. 2. She provided false and/or misleading information to OCR in relation to their investigation regarding the OCR Cambridge Nationals in Creative iMedia Qualification, in that on or around 4 January 2023 she provided to OCR a less detailed version of her teaching resource(s) than which was originally produced and/or used by her. 3. Her conduct as may be found proven at allegation 1 and/or 2 above lacked integrity and/or was dishonest. In a Statement of Agreed Facts, Miss Ahmet admitted allegations 1(a), 1(b) and 2. She did not admit allegation 3, nor did she accept that the admitted allegations amounted to unacceptable professional conduct or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. Preliminary applications Application to amend allegations The presenting officer made an application to amend the stem of the allegations. The current drafting of the stem indicated that Miss Ahmet’s employment at Knightsfield School (“the School”) had ended in February 2024. However, throughout the evidential 5 gathering process of the TRA, it became clear that Miss Ahmet had in fact left the School in March 2023. Accordingly, the TRA proposed to amend the stem of the allegations to change “February 2024” to “March 2023”. The panel was advised that it had the power to amend allegations in accordance with paragraph 5.83 of the 2020 Procedures. The panel considered that the proposed amendments would not change the nature and scope of the allegations in that the allegations would remain the same, and the proposed amendment would merely clarify a previous typographical and administrative error. As such, the panel considered that the proposed amendments did not amount to a material change to the allegations. The legal adviser drew the panel’s attention to the case of Dr Bashir Ahmedsowida v General Medical Council [2021] EWHC 3466 (Admin), 2021 WL 06064095 which held that the lateness of amendments did not necessarily mean they were unjust, as acknowledged in the previous case of Professional Standards Authority v Health and Care Professions Council and Doree [2017] EWCA Civ 319 at [56]. The panel was of the view that granting the application for the proposed amendments would not cause unfairness and/or prejudice to Miss Ahmet. Miss Ahmet was present at the hearing and therefore was aware of the proposed amendment. When given the opportunity to respond to the application by way of submissions from her representative, Miss Ahmet supported the proposed amendment. Accordingly, the panel granted the application and considered the allegations with the updated stem, as set out above. Application to admit additional documents The panel considered a preliminary application from the presenting officer for the admission of additional documents. The presenting officer’s additional documents were as follows: • Statement of Agreed Facts, signed by the presenting officer and Miss Ahmet. • Client brief for album cover teaching resource. • File format table template teaching resource. • OCR Information for teachers on using referencing and on acceptable levels of guidance to students. 6 • Email from the Knightsfield School. • [REDACTED] These documents were presented as a 23-page bundle entitled “Supplementary Bundle”, and had not been served in accordance with the requirements of paragraph 5.37 of the 2020 Procedures. Therefore, the panel was required to decide whether the documents should be admitted under paragraph 5.34 of the 2020 Procedures. The panel heard representations from the presenting officer and the teacher’s representative in respect of the application. The panel also took legal advice. The panel noted that there was no objection from the teacher’s representative to the admission of the new documents. In particular, the presenting officer and the teacher’s representative agreed that the admission of the Statement of Agreed Facts would be fundamental in ensuing a fair and efficient hearing. The panel considered whether it would be fair to admit the documents, and if the documents were relevant to the case. The panel considered the additional documents were relevant to the issues it had to determine. The documents spoke directly to the root of the allegations, and provided important clarity on which aspects of the allegations were disputed by the teacher. Some of the new documents were in fact referred to in the main evidence bundle, but had not been produced until after the main evidence bundle was finalised. The panel concluded it would be helpful, if appropriate, to have actual copies of the documents as part of the evidence, rather than just references to the documents. The panel concluded that the documents were relevant. The panel then considered if the documents should be admitted in the interests of a fair hearing. The panel noted that the new documents did not raise new factual matters with specific reference to the allegations. The panel heard from the presenting officer that the reason for the lateness of the documents was that obtaining the documents was beyond the control of the TRA, and they had only received them from the School and/or OCR after the main evidence bundle was finalised. With respect to the Statement of Agreed Facts, this had only been agreed with and signed by the teacher on 15 July, two days before the hearing began. The panel were compelled by the teacher’s own support for the admission of the new documents and concluded that there were no concerns regarding fairness, and that it would be in the interests of a fair hearing to admit the documents. Accordingly, the application was granted, and the documents admitted. 7 Summary of evidence Documents In advance of the hearing, the panel received a bundle of documents which included: • Section 1: Preliminary Documents – pages 7 to 9. • Section 2: Notice of proceedings, response and statement of agreed and disputed facts – pages 11 to 22. • Section 3: TRA witness statements – pages 24 to 391. • Section 4: TRA documents – pages 393 to 511. • Section 5: Teacher documents – pages 513 to 590. In addition, the panel agreed to accept the 23-page Supplementary Bundle, containing: • Statement of Agreed Facts, signed by the presenting officer and Miss Ahmet. • Client brief for album cover teaching resource. • File format table template teaching resource. • OCR Information for teachers on using referencing and on acceptable levels of guidance to students. • Email from the Knightsfield School (‘the School’). • [REDACTED] The panel members confirmed that they had read all of the documents within the bundle, in advance of the hearing and the additional documents that the panel decided to admit. Witnesses The panel heard oral evidence from the following witnesses called by the TRA: • [REDACTED] The panel heard oral evidence from the teacher. Decision and reasons The panel announced its decision and reasons as follows: 8 The panel carefully considered the case before it and reached a decision. On 1 January 2014 Miss Ahmet commenced employment as an ICT teacher at Knightsfield School (“the School”). On the 7 November 2019, Miss Ahmet created a PowerPoint resource with the file name ‘graphics LO1 template’ (‘the PowerPoint Template’). On the 13 January 2022, Miss Ahmet underwent OCR iMedia training. In April 2022, Miss Ahmet was accepted as an OCR moderator. On the 23 November 2022, the School received a letter from OCR notifying suspicions of malpractice in the Cambridge Nationals Centre iMedia R082/02 ex