24-25/90

I refer to your request for information dated 31 January 2025 (FOI 24 - 25 / 90) in which you asked various queries regarding conduct cases which we have handled under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA).

Specifically, you asked for:

1. The number of teachers dismissed for misconduct in Scotland over the last five years (2019–present), broken down by year.
2. The most common reasons for dismissal, including any available categorisation (e.g., inappropriate behaviour, criminal convictions, safeguarding concerns, etc.).
3. The number of cases where teachers were struck off the teaching register as a result of misconduct.

By way of advice and assistance, you might be interested in a Fitness to Teach Insight report which we have published on our work investigating concerns raised with us about teachers between 2018 and 2023.

Regarding your first query, please note we do not hold records confirming whether a registrant was dismissed from their employment. I have therefore applied section 17(1)(b) of FOISA to this query as this information is not held. I can advise, however, that once a registrant has been removed from the Register of Teachers they are unable to work as a teacher within Scotland.

Regarding your second query, you asked for “the most common reasons for dismissal” to include “any available categorisation” such as “inappropriate behaviour, criminal convictions, safeguarding concerns, etc.” Again, we do not deal with the dismissal of teachers from their employment. However, to assist as far as we are able we have taken this element of your request to refer to teachers who have been removed from the GTC Scotland Register of Teachers. I would note, however, that we do not hold a record of ‘the most common reasons’ for removal. As a result we would apply s17(1)(b) of FOISA to this element of your request.

To assist, however, I would highlight our insight report at page 15 which has a section titled: “Conduct cases we have taken regulatory action in”. This allows you to see the types of cases that GTC Scotland deals with through its Fitness To Teach process. In your request you have asked for any available categorisation that we may have available, in relation to removals. We do not, generally, categorise and record our cases in terms of type of behaviour. We do record how many cases resulted in removal as a result of the teacher being barred from regulated work under the Protection of Vulnerable Groups Scheme of which there were 25 since 1 April 2019. An additional categorisation that we can readily make through our available records is that in 34 cases, since 1 April 2019, the teacher was removed from our Register as a result of criminal conviction.

Finally, you asked for the number of removals from the Register of Teachers due to misconduct. As of 24 January 2025, there have been 81 removals from the Register of Teachers due to misconduct since 01 April 2019.

You may contact informationgovernance@gtcs.org.uk if you are dissatisfied with this response, to request GTC Scotland conduct a review of it. You should describe the original request and explain your grounds of review. You have 40 working days from receipt of this response to submit a review request. When the review process has been completed, if you are still dissatisfied, you may use the Scottish Information Commissioner’s guidance on making an appeal to do so.