A former Tauranga teacher, who paid to watch a former pupil and his girlfriend have sex, has been struck off the Teachers Council register.

Andrew Ray Loader, 50, was sentenced in March to 100 hours' community work after admitting a charge under the Prostitution Reform Act 2003.

Andrew Loader.

The former Otumoetai College teacher was convicted of underage prostitution after paying $240 to twice watch a former student have sex with his teenage girlfriend.

The charge, of entering into a contract for sexual services with a person aged under 18, was laid after Loader paid to watch an 18-year-old former student have sex with his 16-year-old girlfriend.

Loader pleaded guilty to twice paying to watch the teenagers have sex on a bed at his home last November, and afterwards driving them to a cash machine where he withdrew $120 each time.

The conviction was referred to the Teacher Disciplinary Tribunal where Loader's lawyer Michael Stevenson said Loader didn't know the girl was under 18. He had a previously unblemished record, and already suffered significantly from the loss of his job and income.

The Tribunal accepted Loader didn't know the girl's age but says Loader committed a comparatively serious criminal offence detrimental to a school-age child, and he brought the teaching profession into disrepute.

It has ordered Loader's de-registration and publication of his name.