A former New Zealand teacher has been deregistered for posing nude - but she has no regrets, 3 News reported today.

Rachel Whitwell, 29, was photographed draped over a school desk for the pornographic magazine Penthouse's Australia and New Zealand editions in January 2010.

Following a number of complaints and an investigation by the New Zealand Teachers Council (NZTC), the Teachers' Disciplinary Tribunal found the former elementary school teacher's actions had brought the profession into disrepute and reflected poorly on her fitness as a teacher, Radio New Zealand reported.

In her defense, Whitwell argued she was not working as a teacher when she posed for the photographs and had not acted illegally, stuff.co.nz reported.

"I simply modeled for some photographs in my role as a model, not as a teacher," she said in submissions to the NZTC.

"Even if I was teaching I do not believe that ... the NZTC has any right to impose Victorian moral opinions on my life outside the classroom."

Whitwell also said the New Zealand Bill of Rights meant she had a right to freedom of expression.

She was deregistered as a teacher and ordered to pay costs.

Whitwell said she gave up teaching a year and a half ago to pursue a modeling career and, while she had no regrets about posing nude, she wanted to appeal the decision.

Source: TheTelegraph.com.au