A teacher in Wales has lost her ability to teach in Welsh classrooms. The teacher, Alice Ashton, got drunk in class one day, her students reported. This led to unprofessional behavior from the teacher, which included swearing at them and being aggressive. She also allegedly made them dance when she was supposed to be teaching. Although she initially denied the claims, evidence proved the students’ reports were true. Now, she will never be allowed to teach again, at least not in Wales.
A panel found that Ashton was unfit to teach after looking into the 2024 incident, the BBC reported. At the time, Ashton was teaching at Ysgol Bro Caereinion in Wales. During the hearing, a student who was in Ashton’s class on January 17, 2024, described a very out-of-the-ordinary day. The girl, who was referred to as Student H, was sitting close to the teacher’s desk. She noticed an Evian bottle that smelled like alcohol and shared “a knowing look” with another student.
According to the student, the bottle was full at the start of class. But by the end, it was almost empty.
“She was very, very close to us,” she said, according to LBC. The girl claimed Ashton was “very, very lively and quite animated and speaking with her hands.” Normally, the teacher was “more reserved and quiet.” During the lesson, Ashton “kept jumping up from her desk,” becoming more “irritated” as the class went on, the student said.
She also apparently called children in the class “little s—s” and was swearing at them repeatedly. Ashton specifically began to swear at one student in particular. “She put her middle finger two to three inches from his face and continued to swear at him,” Student H said, per LBC.
Another student claimed that Ashton made them dance instead of teaching. “She got some students dancing to the laptop and speakers and it spiralled out of control,” the student alleged. According to reports from The Telegraph, when a student left the classroom, the teacher told him “not to snitch.”
During an internal review at the school, Ashton denied all the claims. She also resigned the same day, the BBC reported. However, CCTV footage backed up all the claims students made.
The panel also heard that Ashton had been convicted of drunk driving in August of 2023. She was given 12 months of community service, had to do 200 hours of unpaid work, and couldn’t have a driver’s license for 28 months. This contributed to the panel’s decision.
Ashton apparently didn’t engage with the hearing and showed “no expression of regret or apology,” per the BBC. The panel was told that Ashton sent an email saying that she was no longer a teacher. She also apparently lives in England.
Ashton will be removed from the Education Workforce Council register indefinitely. But if she wants to, she can reapply in two years, per the BBC. Additionally, she can also appeal the decision.
