A TEACHER who used offensive and racist language in a Cowdenbeath school and told pupils Jesus was "gay" has been banned from teaching for at least two years.

The behaviour of Donna Gilchrist, who was working as a teacher at Beath High in 2018 when the behaviour was reported, was deemed to fall "significantly short" of expected standards and, following a hearing earlier this year, a General Teaching Council for Scotland panel has deemed her unfit to teach.

She was found to have made comments regarding God which were upsetting to a pupil in her class, mocked a pupil because of her dyslexia and showed a number of videos to pupils in lessons which included offensive language, were not age appropriate, were not approved by the school or relevant to the classes being taught.

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She told her class an anecdote about being asked to purchase a pornographic magazine for her husband and used and condoned racist language in the classroom by using the word "n*****" in a discussion with pupils and allowed the word to be used by pupils without objection.

During the hearing, the panel had heard that another teacher had been contacted by a person after their child had been upset that a pupil had used a racially inappropriate word and Gilchrist, instead of reprimanding them, had laughed.

Clips of stand-up Sarah Millican which were used in class, as well as the use of the 18-rated film Green Street which were also deemed inappropriate by another teacher who gave evidence at the hearing.

Giving evidence, one pupil, a Christian, recalled being "sad" about comments by his teacher of Jesus being "fat, black or gay" and said he felt the comments facilitated some of the pupils around him to make fun of him due to his religious beliefs. 

The GTCS hearing decision report said they had to consider the public interest when look at Gilchrist's fitness to teach.

It stated: "The Panel found that the Teacher’s conduct was extremely serious as it included the mocking of a pupil due to her dyslexia, insensitive conduct relating to a pupil’s religion, the showing of potentially harmful and inappropriate materials to pupils, and the using and condoning the use of deeply offensive and racist language.

"All of the above conduct, if repeated by the Teacher, could cause harm to pupils.

"It was the view of the Panel that a member of the public, knowing of the findings made by the Panel, would expect the Panel to take action in this case to protect the public.

"The Panel determined that the Teacher’s conduct falls significantly short of the standards expected of a registered teacher and that she is therefore unfit to teach."

It was decided that Gilchrist should be banned from applying to re-register to the teaching register for two years.

The report added: "The Panel considered that a shorter time period was inappropriate as the conduct found proved is very serious, there is no indication of any remediation undertaken by the teacher and there is a lack of insight.

"The Panel decided that two years would give the teacher an opportunity to reflect on her conduct and demonstrate insight."