A headteacher found guilty of misconduct over cheating in SATs tests is allowed to teach again after the Teaching Regulation Agency overturned its own decision to ban him. Malcolm Drakes, former executive headteacher of Mead Primary School and Broadford Primary School in Romford, east London, was struck off in November 2022 following a misconduct hearing. But the TRA was forced to convene a second hearing after the High Court ruled the misconduct panel had 鈥渨rongly stated鈥 there was 鈥渘o material before them鈥 regarding how Drakes would act differently in the future. In a published today, the TRA overturned its own decision 鈥 saying Drakes鈥 鈥渆xceptional contribution to teaching and education鈥 meant the ban was not appropriate. However the findings that his actions were 鈥渕isconduct of a serious nature鈥 were upheld. Drakes 鈥渆xcessively鈥 assisted pupils and 鈥渋ndicated鈥 whether their answers were right during a spelling, punctuation and grammar test in May 2018. This included over pronouncing words, such as stating 鈥榓rc-i-tect鈥 for architect and 鈥榙-e-send-dant鈥 for descendant to help pupils spell, and stating that a pupil needed to leave space between words in an answer. In the same month, he also 鈥渆xcessively assisted鈥 pupils during a key stage 2 maths test. In both tests, he allowed other staff members to excessively assist pupils. The exams were annulled by the Standards Testing Agency (STA) following a whistleblowing complaint from a staff member, including a video taken during one of the assessments. Head worked for Harris after scandal Drakes stepped down from the role in December 2018 by “mutual agreement”. In the intervening years before the first hearing, he worked as an associate principal at an 鈥渦nderperforming academy鈥, as well in a leadership consultant role at Harris Federation. Drakes LinkedIn lists that he works for Harris鈥 leadership college which includes designing NPQ curriculums, running a vice-principal network and helping to write the trust鈥檚 successful bid to run the National Institute of Teaching. But in November, Drakes accepted his actions were 鈥渄ishonest and lacked integrity鈥 and amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. The panel鈥檚 recommendation of a prohibition order was then accepted by the secretary of state. But Drakes appealed to the High Court, which ruled a different professional conduct panel should make a fresh decision on whether he should be banned. A consent order, seen by Schools Week, shows the secretary of state had accepted there were 鈥減ublic interest considerations in favour of retaining the appellant within the profession鈥. Leading trusts praise Drakes At a fresh hearing in August, the panel upheld the allegations against Drakes but 鈥渨as satisfied鈥 that mitigating circumstances led to his 鈥渄ishonesty鈥. In evidence to the panel, the former headteacher said he had supported vulnerable pupils who 鈥渢hreatened鈥 to leave the school site, which would pose a 鈥渟ignificant safeguarding risk鈥 on the day of the spelling test. The panel was offered numerous references to his 鈥渆xceptional contribution鈥 to teaching from referees who were aware of the allegations against him. These include from staff at Harris Federation, an employee at Academies Enterprise Trust who had been a moderator when Drakes oversaw SATs at two other schools in 2019, as well as former Broadford staff. In its resulting judgment, the panel found Drakes to have 鈥渄emonstrated significant remorse鈥 having seen the impact of his actions on former pupils and staff. It added that he 鈥渁ffirmed鈥 his dedication to the profession in voluntarily supporting disadvantaged pupils with UCAS statements and mentoring school leaders while banned from teaching. Career of 鈥榥ational recognition and acclaim鈥 The panel said Drakes, whose school had won the , had 鈥渄eveloped a heightened sense of his own fallibility鈥. At the time of the cheating, his 鈥渃areer had been one of interrupted success with national recognition and acclaim. Drakes 鈥渁dmitted he had developed a persona that may have made it difficult for others to challenge him. 鈥淗e now has a very real sense that he is someone who could make a mistake, and that just because he has a certain belief, that does not mean he is always right, or that others should share that belief.鈥 There was also a 鈥渟trong public interest consideration鈥 in retaining him in the profession 鈥渟ince he is able to make a valuable contribution鈥. David Oatley, acting on behalf of the secretary of state, agreed with its recommendation that a prohibition order was not appropriate. Andrew Faux, who represented Drakes, said the case had been 鈥渢orturously slow. It was enormously disappointing when he was prohibited last year and immediately clear that the committee鈥檚 approach was flawed鈥. Banning Drakes 鈥渨ould have deprived the public of the services of this exceptional educator鈥, he added. It鈥檚 the latest controversy involving the TRA, which was earlier this month heavily criticised for ruling a teacher with an 鈥渦nblemished鈥 record guilty of misconduct because a pupil misused a glue gun in an isolated incident. Teachers accused of misconduct are now waiting more than two years on average for their cases to conclude after waiting times for staff facing hearings worsened for a third year running. Such cases were taking on average 113 weeks 鈥 more than double the TRA鈥檚 52-week target.