William Schaper, a 49-year-old general subjects teacher at Eltham College Junior School in southeast London, has been barred from the teaching profession indefinitely after an investigation found he accessed pornography and stored sexual material on his work computer. The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) imposed a prohibition order with immediate effect following a professional conduct panel held on September 15.
Misconduct discovered through school monitoring
Schaper, who had been employed at the school since 2003, was dismissed in January 2025 after an internal investigation. The school’s internet filtering and monitoring system flagged potentially inappropriate material accessed by Schaper, prompting a formal investigation that compiled an internet activity report detailing specific websites visited, locations of access, devices used, and exact times during school hours.
The investigation revealed that Schaper had accessed pornography on multiple occasions while at work during school hours and had stored pornographic and sexual material in his school Outlook 365 account since 2018. Eltham College confirmed that none of the material viewed was child-related.
Denial and admission
When confronted by the school’s acting headteacher on January 17, 2025, Schaper initially denied accessing the material and provided a convoluted denial that contradicted the investigation’s findings. He also attempted to manually clear his browser history following the confrontation. However, later that evening, he sent a WhatsApp message to the acting headteacher admitting he had accessed pornographic material.
Eltham College Junior School held a disciplinary hearing on January 24, which resulted in Schaper losing his job. The school referred the case to the TRA on February 6. Schaper admitted to all allegations and requested that they be considered without a hearing. He was not present at the virtual hearing, which determined his conduct was sexual, dishonest, and lacking in integrity.
Prohibition order and impact
The professional conduct panel formally imposed a prohibition order with immediate effect, preventing Schaper from teaching indefinitely in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation, or children’s home in England. He may apply to have the order set aside after a minimum of two years, but not before September 24, 2028. Lifting the ban is not automatic and would require a new panel meeting to evaluate his insight and rehabilitation.
An Eltham College spokesperson said: “We can confirm that Mr Schaper was summarily dismissed in January 2025 immediately after his inappropriate use of IT was detected by our monitoring systems. We can also confirm that the material viewed was not child-related but was clearly inappropriate for a teacher. Pupil safeguarding is, and always will be, our highest priority.”
