A SUPPLY teacher who wore a traditional mortar board and gown in a bid to prove his authority with pupils has been banned from the classroom for two years.

David Austin said he donned the get-up when he previously worked at Torc High School in Tamworth.

And he was back in the outfit yesterday when he was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct at a General Teaching Council hearing.

Mr Austin, 56, of High Street, Stourbridge, was accused of being “menacing” when he challenged two schools about complaints they made to a Birmingham-based supply agency which he said employed him.

David Coll, the head teacher of Witton Middle School in Droitwich, said staff contacted the Birmingham-based Faith Education agency three days after Mr Austin began working there, adding his teaching style was “abrupt and demanding”.

And Louise Major, deputy head teacher at Ridgewood High School in Stourbridge, said Mr Austin accused her of lying in front of a student.

Mr Austin said he went to both schools on March 1 to respond to the complaints and “protect” his reputation, although police were called to Witton over what Mr Coll called his “confrontational” and “menacing” behaviour.

Mr Austin refused to speak for the first 90 minutes of yesterday’s hearing and instead wrote onto an overhead projector that his local accent would “prejudice the proceedings”.