A TEACHER who gave children cigarettes at the school gates and boasted to pupils about having sex behind a tree has been struck off.
Peter Walsh also discussed his own drug use with pupils, renamed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as “Teenage Minge” and told students it was their “f****** human right” to go to the toilet during class time.
The English teacher’s conducted of his own defence in front of the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) but was so confrontational he was barred from his own hearing.
Mr Walsh, who worked as a supply teacher in Edinburgh, moved to Scotland after he was disciplined by the profession’s watchdog south of the border.
The 60-year-old, from Penicuik, Midlothian, was working as a supply teacher at Broughton High School, Edinburgh, in February 2015, when the incidents happened.
The hearing in Edinburgh last month was told he referred to a drawing as looking like ‘testes’ and referred to some department heads as not having a “f****** clue”.
Curriculum head of English, Nicola Daniel, told the hearing: “Pupils would report that Mr Walsh would swear at the school gates and give them cigarettes.”
She added: “They thought it was great fun to be told they could go to the toilet whenever they wanted because it was their ‘f****** human right’.
“Three girls in my top set S3 class said he had been using bad language and told them that he had had an addiction to drugs.
“The girls said Mr Walsh had gone on to discuss drug addiction and had gone on to discuss having sex behind a tree and other encounters.”
Outside the Edinburgh hearing in March, Mr Walsh claimed: “The teaching profession is full of bullies. How can you condemn somebody just on anecdotes? You’d have a better chance if you were up for murder.
“I’ve lived a wild life and that’s what made me the great teacher that I was with the kids.
“I know all about drugs and I think its my civic duty to tell pupils If I know something.”
But in their written decision the GTCS said Mr Walsh had used “inappropriate and offensive language with pupils and discussed drugs, sex and his personal life in a manner which failed to maintain professional boundaries”.
This, and other failings, risked underming “public confidence in teaching as a profession” and Mr Walsh “failed to act as a role model to pupils”.
They added: “The Panel was of the view that in all of the circumstances, the Teacher’s conduct fell significantly short of the standards expected.
“There was no evidence before the Panel to allow it to conclude that the conduct had been remedied or that the Teacher was taking steps to remedy the conduct. The Teacher had shown no insight into his behaviour.”
In addition, they said, Mr Walsh “had no insight into the conduct and had no remorse. Having regard to these factors, the Panel considered it highly likely that the conduct would recur.”
Mr Walsh was sacked from his position at Churchill Community College, Wallsend, North Tyneside, in 2003 for swearing at a teacher.
That episode put him in front of the GTC in Birmingham in 2005, which reprimanded him for failing to provide proper lessons whilst acting as a supply teacher.
Asked why Mr Walsh was hired despite his history, an Edinburgh Council
spokesman said: “In line with the council’s recruitment and selection policy all teachers require to be registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland.
“The council regularly reviews its recruitment and selection policy to ensure it is in line with best practice.”
