Secret filming teacher defended

Mrs Mason denies the charges against her

It would be a "travesty of justice" to discipline a supply teacher who secretly filmed her pupils for a documentary, a tribunal has heard.

Channel Five's controller Chris Shaw told a General Teaching Council hearing that Angela Mason had contributed to an important public debate.

Mrs Mason, of north London, is accused of professional misconduct for filming staff and students without consent.

She denies misconduct, saying she wanted to expose "classroom chaos".

Mr Shaw told the Birmingham tribunal: "It would be a travesty of justice if Angela Mason is sanctioned and disciplined by the GTC when she has raised an important issue.

"If I had wanted to make a sensationalist film about classroom indiscipline, I would not have done it this way."

'Public unaware'

He added: "I could have gone out and found extreme cases where teachers were attacked or sexually assaulted and put them into a very selective programme exposing the horrors of classroom indiscipline.

"What I was trying to do was show the low-level workaday problems faced by classroom teachers.

"As we saw it, the wider public were wholly unaware of the nature of these problems."

Executive producer Roger Graef told the tribunal that the filming had been done secretly because he had felt it was the only way to show the kind of disruption teachers faced.

Mrs Mason also denies failing to promote the education and welfare of children by failing to manage their behaviour appropriately.

The hearing has been adjourned until 18 June.