Cody Michael Reynolds, 37, faced a sentence hearing at Downing Centre District Court on Thursday after pleading guilty in December to one charge of transmitting child abuse material and another charge of possessing it.
Reynolds was the head of English at Moriah College in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
The hearing was told there were only "slight differences" between the Crown and defence on the seriousness of Reynolds' offending, which the court heard involved a very large volume of material on a laptop and mobile phones.
Among the material, "there were children held at gunpoint" and some of the images and videos involved vulnerable children, it was told.
Crown prosecutor Georgia Lewer said Reynolds used aliases, viewed the material for sexual gratification and had a history of sexual deviance.
Ms Lewer said a term of full-time imprisonment was appropriate, as she questioned if the deviance was under control and his prospects of rehabilitation.
"The crown position is that Your Honour can't find that they are good," she said of those prospects.
Reynolds' lawyer Ryan Coffey urged an alternative to full-time custody, arguing his client had done everything "humanly available" to make things right since being charged.
Mr Coffey said Reynolds had entered an early guilty plea, was undergoing voluntary psychological treatment, and had shown remorse and contrition.
The ex-teacher had co-operated with law enforcement, which increased the number of images and files found by federal police, and lost his job within 24 hours of being arrested, Mr Coffey told the court.
He also pointed to his client's "not hollow" apology for the "abhorrent crime".
"It hasn't simply been an easy time (for him)," the barrister said.
Conceding some the material involved acts of violence or torture, Mr Coffey said the Crown could not prove Mr Reynolds viewed all of it, but just that he received links and downloaded it, adding that his client took full responsibility.
On possible re-offending, Mr Coffey said there was evidence of "systems in place" and submitted "there's more than one person who's going to keep him on track and assist him".
Reynolds, who is on bail, sat in court nearby to supporters from his family and showed little emotion during the hearing .
Judge Phillip Mahony adjourned the matter to May 11 for sentence.
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