A former teacher who challenged a student to an in-classroom wrestling match and put him in a chokehold, was censured, despite the student saying it was “all in fun”.
The incident took place in February 2020, with the wrestling match happening after Jonathon Tate-Rushworth, a teacher at an all-boys school, felt a year 13 student was disrespecting him. The student and school’s names are suppressed.
Towards the end of the class, Tate-Rushworth asked the class: “Who wants me to wrestle (student)?”
The two agreed to have a wrestling match and discussed a set of rules before they started.
The pair grappled in front of the entire class, eventually reaching the floor where the student had his arm wrapped around his business teacher's head.
Tate-Rushworth's class filmed parts of the brawl on their phones, sharing the clips online.
At one point Tate-Rushworth put the student in a chokehold with his arm around the year 13’s neck.
The following day Tate Rushworth apologised to the class, saying he’d made a mistake and crossed professional boundaries by wrestling his student.
He asked the class to delete any videos of the incident from both their phones and the internet.
“I was worried sick last night over this foolish thing that I've done. I don't mind whatever consequences come my way - but I'm sorry to you guys that you'll have to deal with this,” he said to the class.
He reported the incident to the school’s principal that day, sending them footage of the match.
He also acknowledged that "not shown in this clip is a point earlier where I had the student in a choke hold."
Tate-Rushworth was placed on leave with pay while the school investigated and was invited to attend a disciplinary meeting at a later date.
Despite this, interviews the school did with students showed they didn’t think of it as being too serious.
Students said it was "a bit of fun wrestling", "light-hearted", and "really quick", with no one being hurt.
The student said he had not been in danger or pain.
Later on that month, the principal said that by agreement, the school would establish a mentoring relationship between him and the deputy principal.
The incident was reported to the Teaching Council - they referred him to the Complaints Assessment Committee (CAC), which investigated. Proceedings were launched before the Teacher's disciplinary tribunal.
During the tribunal, Tate-Rushworth addressed his foray into combat sports, saying he never intended to harm the student.
"In the wrestling event, the 'choke hold' that is referenced was applied in a controlled manner so as not to constrict the student's windpipe or blood vessels.
“There was a negligible risk of harm, as is already made clear in the report. I am remorseful and regret my unprofessional decisions."
He said felt the student “was not accepting his responsibility within the context of the class. This was not a matter of my ego. It is a matter of people working together towards the common good."
After the CAC investigation, all parties agreed Tate-Rushworth had engaged in “serious misconduct” and was censured.
“Having considered the matter and viewed the footage of part of this incident, the Tribunal also agrees. It was conduct that reflected adversely on the respondent’s fitness to be a teacher. It was also conduct that may bring the teaching profession into disrepute,” the Teacher’s Tribunal said.
The censure meant he had to provide the decision to any education employer in the future.
He was ordered to pay $2230.40 in costs.
However, following the CAC decision and before the tribunal hearing, Tate-Rushworth had his teacher's registration cancelled for a separate, unrelated offence.
He was fired from the school in 2021.
SHARE ME