Criminal Offences

All criminal convictions are reported to GTC Scotland by the Scottish Police Services Authority in the case of currently registered teachers and by Disclosure Scotland for applicants to the register.

Teaching is an exception under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and so information is available to the GTCS on both spent and unspent convictions.

GTC Scotland considers all cases of convictions against teachers and applicants for registration on an individual basis, taking all of the circumstances into account. It is not possible to confirm whether any particular conviction would lead to disciplinary action.

It is unlikely, however, that one-off minor traffic offences would lead to disciplinary action.

On the other hand, the following cases have to be considered particularly seriously:

• crimes of violence
• sexual offences
• serious public order offences
• crimes against children

All cases relating to criminal offences will follow the formal investigation process.