Update: 5.13pm

A SCIENCE teacher allegedly told children to "look busy" when senior staff entered the room, an education hearing heard earlier today.

Tracey Jayne Beadle, who worked at Lewis Girls' Comprehensive School in Ystrad Mynach, is accused of six allegations claiming she failed to perform as an effective classroom teacher.

Ms Beadle admits the six allegations that she is guilty of "serious professional incompetence" between February 2012 and January 2014.

The Education Workforce Council's Fitness to Practise Committee met to hear Ms Beadle's case in Cardiff on Monday.

Ms Beadle admits five charges that she did not independently plan lessons, did not choose an appropriate range of learning approaches, did not consistently deliver engaging lessons, did not ensure she provided regular feedback and did not ensure that her marking identified areas for pupils' development.

Ms Beadle also admits the five charges constituted "serious professional incompetence", or "conduct which demonstrates a level of incompetence which falls seriously below that expected of a registered person".

The committee panel heard from Helen Harding, deputy head at the school, who was asked to act as mentor and work with Ms Beadle as part of a capability procedure following a formal written warning which was given to her in December 2012.

Ms Harding said sometimes things "ended up in chaos" in lessons.

She said: "On the last lesson I observed, Ms Beadle got the lesson wrong and the children ended up repeating the lesson for the third time.

"There were complaints the children were being told to look busy if either I or Ms Phillips came into the room."

Elizabeth Phillips, who was acting headteacher at the time and made the decision to start Ms Beadle's capability procedure, also gave evidence.

Ms Phillips, also a science teacher, claimed Ms Beadle's pupils came to her "quite distressed" needing help with their understanding. 

She said parents were complaining lessons were only being done when a member of senior management was observing.

She said: "The lessons were at best adequate but often unsatisfactory unless she had significant support with lesson planning."

The acting head also said: "There was no dip in performance. Ms Beadle's always been a poor teacher".

But Carys Williams, representing Ms Beadle, highlighted lesson observation reports, including one by Ms Phillips, which said there were good improvements.

Ms Phillips agreed and said there were improvements "in some areas but others slipped back".

She added: "It was the consistency that was the issue."

Deputy head Ms Harding also agreed with Carys Williams' claim "there were some marked improvements, especially the lesson planning issue. It's fair to say that there were peaks of improvement, she was doing things to try and improve."

Ms Williams, highlighted Ms Beadle's anxiety and depression which could have caused a lack of confidence as noted in performance reports.

Ms Williams questioned mentor Ms Harding whether it was her role to know of personal issues.

But Ms Harding said: "At no other time did Ms Beadle give any notification there was other mental health issues.

"She didn't make me aware of any difficulties at any point."

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A SCIENCE teacher has admitted six allegations that she failed to perform as an effective classroom teacher.

Tracey Jayne Beadle, who worked at Lewis Girls' Comprehensive School in Ystrad Mynach, is accused of six allegations claiming her conduct constituted "serious professional incompetence" between February 2012 and January 2014.

The Education Workforce Council's Fitness to Practise Committee is meeting today to hear Ms Beadle's case.

Ms Beadle admits five charges that she did not independently plan lessons, did not choose an appropriate range of learning approaches, did not consistently deliver engaging lessons, did not ensure she provided regular feedback and did not ensure that her marking identified areas for pupils' development.

Ms Beadle also admits the five charges thus constituted "serious professional incompetence".

Proceeding.