Naked teacher has no class

Whitwell and Crow. Photo / Doug Sherring

A former teacher who posed naked for Penthouse is fighting for her career, appearing before the Teachers Council and denying the shots of her were pinned up at an Auckland primary school.

Rachel Whitwell, fiancee of Kiwi porn king and Boobs on Bikes organiser Steve Crow, met the council just before Christmas - more than a year since she hit headlines in 2009 when the council said it would investigate if her posing naked on Australian Penthouse's website had brought the teaching profession into disrepute.

Crow attended the hearing and said this week a representative from Otara's Yendarra School, where Whitwell once worked, was a witness for the council and told it that builders put up the pictures on the school's toilet walls, which "caused distress". But Crow argues the dates don't stack up.

The case is expected to set a precedent under the council's newly adopted rule on "disrepute". A reserved judgment is due out within weeks.

It is understood the council is weighing up the right of a person's freedom to do what they wish in their private time against what is morally expected of a role-model teacher.

Whitwell's speaking out provides a rare insight into the council, which holds hearings behind closed doors and only refers to teachers under investigation as "XXXXXXX".

The couple said they met for three hours with four members of the council (the fifth member was sick), the council's lawyer and a stenographer.

Whitwell said she relished the chance to finally have her say - "to defend my actions". She spent four years studying at Victoria University for her degree and wants to fight for her career.

"I told them it wasn't illegal. It just comes down to a few individuals making a moral judgment."

She reasoned she was not teaching at the time of the photoshoot and had left Yendarra School about a year earlier to spend time with her daughter.

Whitwell said council members asked lots of "hypothetical questions", like what if future students saw the images and lost respect for her - and how would she deal with that?

"I said I would be calling on the parents of those children and asking, 'Why are your children looking at R18 material'?" she said, adding that she did not worry about others' opinions. She would just focus on being a good teacher.

Whitwell said she had received support from the public, held her head high and had no regrets.

Teachers Council director Peter Lind did not return calls for comment.