A secondary teacher has been struck off after being found to have told pupils about having sex behind a tree and smoking cannabis.
Peter Walsh was working as a supply teacher at Broughton High School in Edinburgh at the time.
At a hearing before a General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) fitness-to-teach panel, he was found to have had “inappropriate conversations” with pupils about sex, drugs and his personal life.
One witness, a curriculum leader, said Mr Walsh had described having sex behind a tree and other sexual encounters, smoking joints and going to rehab.
The witness also reported having heard Mr Walsh giving a class incorrect advice about essay writing and telling the pupils that they were taught by “crap teachers”.
He was also found to have referred to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book characters as “teenage minge” and referred to some drawings as “testes”.
One witness, a maths teacher, told the hearing that, in an art class during which a pupil had recorded Mr Walsh on a mobile phone, he said his nickname at school was “pervert”.
On another occasion, Walsh left a religious, moral and philosophical studies lesson early and left pupils unsupervised.
The misconduct took place between 9 February and 13 February 2015.
At the fitness-to-teach hearing, members of the panel became concerned by Walsh’s “aggressive and intimidating” questioning of witnesses and noted that after he was warned to mind his behaviour, Walsh “sighed and pulled faces”.
He had shown “contempt” for the fitness-to-teach process, GTCS’ verdict states, and eventually was excluded from the remainder of the proceedings.
The panel also noted that a late document was submitted after a search of GTCS archives. Dated March 2005, it showed the General Teaching Council for England had given Walsh a two-year reprimand for unacceptable conduct after finding that “whilst teaching a year 10 class in November 2003 the teacher had in the course of the lesson made no or very limited efforts to teach”.
The GTCS panel noted that, on 17 July 2014, he had been warned in a letter from Edinburgh City Council to ensure that set work for his class was completed and that he follow the curriculum, and to always use appropriate language.
The panel also considered an application for registration document dated 21 July 2014.
Walsh denied all of the allegations made against him, but the GTCS removed him from the register after finding them to be proven, and after deciding that Walsh had shown “no insight into [his] conduct and had no remorse”.
