Teachers who belong to far-right groups could be kicked out school

Scotland’s teaching regulator is facing calls to strike off members of the profession with links to far-right groups such as the British National Party and the Scottish Defence League.

Members of the country’s largest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), have tabled a motion to their upcoming AGM calling on the General Teaching Council for Scotland and the Scottish Government to “minimise the influence” of such groups in schools.

However, it is expected that delegates at this week’s meeting will go a step further and call for members of the profession with links to extremist groups to be removed from the teaching register.

Currently, teachers working in Scotland’s schools do not have to declare whether they are the member of a political party or other such group.

The General Teaching Council for England was axed after it failed to take action against a BNP activist who described immigrants as “savage animals” on an internet forum.

Michael Gove, the UK government’s education secretary, said the organisation had “failed to protect” children from extremism by allowing Adam Walker, a technology teacher from County Durham, to remain on the teaching register.

The motion going before this week’s EIS AGM calls on the union to condemn the activities of the BNP and SDL and approach the Scottish Government and GTCS “with a view to identifying means by which the influence of such organisations could be minimised within all educational establishments in Scotland”.

A GTCS spokesman said: “GTC Scotland recognises the democratic principles of freedom of expression and fairness, and the right of a teacher to have a private life. Consequently, the privately held political preferences of a teacher are not normally of interest for GTC Scotland.

“However, the GTC Scotland code of professionalism and conduct establishes very clear expectations of the professional behaviour of teachers; and any breach of the code can lead to a requirement for GTC Scotland to investigate the fitness to teach of an individual teacher.

“GTC Scotland would certainly be concerned if a teacher became involved in activities which are inconsistent with the code and/or if there were evidence that unsuitable or inappropriate material or attitudes had been shared with pupils. In particular, GTC Scotland would never condone the expression of racist or other inappropriate views in the classroom and would view seriously any attempt by a teacher to impose extreme views on pupils.”

Among the other motions set to be discussed by the union is one condemning the “abuse and harassment” faced by teachers through the internet and social networking sites.

It calls on internet service providers to take action against any sites found to be hosting such material.