Senior teacher on disciplinary panel is accused of misconduct

A KEY member of a watchdog which rules on whether to strike teachers off the register for misconduct, is himself being investigated.

James Forbes, a Midlothian teacher and council member of the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), the profession's watchdog, is accused of using "aggressive and threatening" language with another council member.

The modern languages teacher at Lasswade High School is facing three serious charges of misconduct including allegedly using "aggressive and threatening language" during a confrontation with GTCS convener David Drever.

The official charges allege Mr Forbes used the phrases "I demand you listen to me" and "I demand your attention" when aggressively confronting Mr Drever during a public meeting at the GTCS offices in Edinburgh in June 2010.

Mr Forbes is also charged with failing to "engage in a reasonable manner" with the professional teaching body by refusing official GTCS correspondence concerning the matter, and refusing to attend meetings to hear the complaints against him.

A further charge claims Mr Forbes, who has been an elected member of the body since 2001, used language of an "inappropriate nature" in an e-mail sent to the GTCS when referring to fellow council members Thomas Kirk and George Wynne.

Mr Forbes is a member of the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association (SSTA).

Mr Drever is a deputy head at Kirkwall Grammar School on Orkney and a former president of Scotland's largest teaching union, the EIS.

The two unions have been split over the latest deal in pay and conditions for teacher which was rubber-stamped on Thursday by the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers.

Mr Forbes is also campaigning to have the Church of Scotland and Catholic Church members removed from the GTCS, and petitioned the Scottish Parliament last year in a bid to have the two Scottish Government- appointed church members barred from sitting on GTCS committees.

His petition, which was raised at the parliament on 9 September 2010, urged educators to join him in an attempt to dispense with the religious influence on the GTCS board.

Mr Forbes failed to appear before a preliminary GTCS conduct hearing earlier this month, but is expected to be present when the tribunal process resumes after the summer.

Many teachers have claimed to have defected from the EIS to the SSTA over the former's acceptance of the latest deal while the latter was staunchly against it.

The disciplinary sub-committee of the GTCS conducts hearings into misconduct by teachers and has power to remove a teacher's name from the Register of Teachers – an effective ban from the profession across the UK.

One teacher, who did not want to be named, who has previously been in front of the disciplinary committee said: "It shows just how easy it is to be involved in something like this.

"Perhaps, now the shoe is on the other foot, he might understand what it is like to go in front of the GTCS."

A spokesman for the GTCS said it was unable to comment on the issue.