Teachers convicted of drug offences or theft are to be allowed back into the classroom.

A criminal record for smoking cannabis, using amphetamines or shoplifting need not bar them from continuing their jobs, official guidance states.

Certain gambling, alcohol and driving offences are also not enough to see a teacher removed from their post, the National College for Teaching and Leadership said.

Last night campaigners said routinely allowing such offenders to continue to teach would set a bad example to their pupils.

‘The job of a teacher is not just to impart knowledge to learners, it is to give them moral guidance,’ said David Green, from the Civitas think-tank.

‘You can’t give moral leadership if you yourself don’t set an example.

‘If you’ve been found guilty of the possession of drugs, it implies you at least use them.’

The official guidance from the NCTL has been sanctioned by the Department for Education. It covers when disciplinary panels should issue prohibition orders, which bar teachers whose conduct has fallen below expected standards from working in any classroom.

The guidance tightens the rules in some areas – making it clear that teachers guilty of sexual misconduct and/or any crime involving indecent images of children should be kicked out, as should those convicted of supplying drugs.

But for other drug offences leading to a conviction or caution, teachers should not be prohibited from teaching unless class-A substances – such as heroin, cocaine and ecstasy – are involved, it says.

Offences involving class-B and C drugs, including cannabis and speed, would not mean an automatic prohibition order.

Last night, a Department for Education source said: ‘Obviously, teachers should be strongly disciplined if they have committed theft or used drugs. We are absolutely clear that teachers can be banned for life.

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The Boy Scouts of America will accept openly gay youths starting on New Year’s Day, a historic change that has prompted the BSA to ponder a host of potential complications — ranging from policies on tentmates and showers to whether Scouts can march in gay pride parades.

Yet despite their be-prepared approach, BSA leaders are rooting for the change to be a non-event, comparable to another New Year’s Day in 2000 when widespread fears of digital-clock chaos to start the new millennium proved unfounded.

“My hope is there will be the same effect this Jan. 1 as the Y2K scare,” said Brad Haddock, a BSA national executive board member who chairs the policy implementation committee. “It’s business as usual, nothing happens and we move forward.”

Some churches are dropping their sponsorship of Scout units because of the new policy and some families are switching to a new conservative alternative called Trail Life USA. But massive defections haven’t materialized and most major sponsors, including the Roman Catholic and Mormon churches, are maintaining ties.

“There hasn’t been a whole lot of fallout,” said Haddock, a lawyer from Wichita, Kan. “If a church said they wouldn’t work with us, we’d have a church right down the street say, ‘We’ll take the troop.’”

The new policy was approved in May, with support from 60 percent of the 1,400 voting members of the BSA’s National Council. The vote followed bitter nationwide debate, and was accompanied by an announcement that the BSA would continue to exclude openly gay adults from leadership positions.

Under the new membership policy, youths can no longer be barred from the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts or coed Venturers program solely on the basis of sexual orientation. However, gay Scouts will face some limitations.

“Any sexual conduct, whether heterosexual or homosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting,” says one BSA document. “No member may use Scouting to promote or advance any social or political position or agenda, including on the matter of sexual orientation.”

Trying to anticipate potential friction, the BSA has distributed extensive explanations and question-and-answer documents related to the policy.

Some examples:

—Could a Scout march in uniform in a gay-pride parade? No, says the BSA. “Each youth member is free as an individual to express his or her thoughts or take action on political or social issues but must not use Scouting’s official uniforms and insignia when doing so.”

—How publicly active could a gay Scout be, in terms of gay-rights advocacy? The BSA’s reply: “While a youth member may acknowledge his or her sexual preference, that acknowledgment may not reach the level of distraction, which may include advocacy, promotion, or the distribution of information of a sexual nature.”

A frequently-asked-questions document anticipates that some objections might surface from parents — or Scouts themselves — in cases where a unit includes an openly gay boy.

Regarding shower and toilet facilities, the BSA says it is encouraging units to provide greater individual privacy, including moving away from the tradition of group showers.

“The adult leaders have the discretion to arrange private showering times and locations,” the BSA says.

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A girl of 14 killed herself after she was bullied at school for wearing long skirts and dreaming of going to Oxford University.

Izzy Dix suffered years of cruel taunts and insults, her mother told an inquest.

Gabbi Dix said bullies had made Izzy’s life ‘hell’ because she was  academically ambitious, achieved an A* in English, and refused to wear short skirts like other girls.

Miss Dix, 46, found her daughter slumped in her bedroom on September 17 after the girl hanged herself. Miss Dix and her daughter had lived in Australia for several years before moving to Devon, where Izzy attended Brixham Community College – where she was also bullied about her accent.

The mother said in a statement: ‘Izzy was bullied the moment she started at the school. She continued to be bullied in and out of school by both boys and girls.

Izzy said she felt there was nowhere to go at break time and she said she thought she would have the mickey taken out of her if she went to student support.’ She said her daughter was ‘picked on for everything she did’.

The inquest heard Izzy sent a text message to her mother on the day of her death asking if they could have a long chat when she got home from school.

They talked and hugged but later in the night Izzy became upset, swore at her mother, and went to her room to listen to music.

Miss Dix added: ‘She said one  particular person had made her life hell in a lesson and it wasn’t noticed by the supply teacher in the class.

‘I tried to reassure her that it would get better and I gave her a hug.’

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