Following the revelation that she assisted in the smuggling of a 14-year-old African girl into Britain to serve as her "slave," the primary school teacher was expelled from the classroom.After receiving her term in 2008, 53-year-old Ernestina Quainoo concealed her prior conviction from Cherry Lane Primary School in West Drayton, London, prior to beginning her teaching career in 2019. Up until December 2022, when a coworker obtained an old newspaper clipping revealing her criminal background, she worked as a teacher for children ages five to seven.

Following a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) investigation, Ms Quainoo has been banned from teaching for her actions, which went against “the very core of her practice”.

Ms Quainoo moved to the UK from Ghana with her husband, Samuel Quainoo, in 2004.

The pair managed to smuggle a 14-year-old African girl into the country, promising her that she would receive an education and a job, a court heard in 2008.The girl was instead subjected to 18 months of unpaid labour that left her contemplating suicide.

‘My other name is bitch’

She was forced to cook, clean the house and babysit the couple’s two young sons, while the couple bought her T-shirt to wear with “my other name is bitch” printed on them.

The pair kept the girl isolated, preventing her from going to school and forming friendships.Falling ill, the girl fled to find medical aid and subsequently escaped, later telling police and social workers that she had contemplated suicide.

Mr Quainoo is said to have told the police that the girl had cast a “voodoo” spell on them.

Mr Quainoo, who had a previous conviction for false accounting, was jailed for 18 months and his wife was given a two-year suspended sentence for assisting unlawful immigration into the UK.

Mrs Quainoo resigned from her role in February but her former employers referred the matter to the TRA.‘Cultural differences’

However, the teaching panel heard that Mrs Quainoo’s conviction was not protected under the act.

Teaching watchdogs were informed that Mrs Quainoo had initially denied having any convictions and later declared to the school that she had committed an immigration offence.

In her disclosure statement, Mrs Quainoo explained: “Due to my inability to demonstrate that she [the individual] was a member [of] the family, I was charged with assisting her unlawful entry into the UK on 11th July, for which I pleaded guilty as I completely misunderstood the cultural differences that exist between the two.”

Sue Davies, who chaired the TRA hearing, said: “The panel concluded that the information Mrs Quainoo provided on the application form when she answered ‘no’ to that question was not correct.”

However, the panel ruled there was not enough evidence that she had deliberately lied and therefore found a dishonesty allegation not proved.

Mrs Davies added: “At the time, the Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance did not require that an internet search of candidates was undertaken.

“The panel accepted that the school chose to still employ Mrs Quainoo on the basis of the disclosure statement and the DBS check giving them no reason to believe the offence might have been in relation to a child.”

The panel described a lack of further investigation from the school as “regrettable”.

Banning the former teacher from the profession for two years, Sarah Buxcey, head of the TRA’s teacher investigation unit, said that Ms Quainoo’s past actions went against the “very core of her practice as a teacher with a duty of care towards children”.

She added: “A prohibition order would therefore prevent such a risk from being present in the future.”

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act affords those with spent convictions and cautions the right not to have to disclose when applying for most jobs.