Scots teacher faces being struck off for allegedly reducing pupils to tears

A SCOTS teacher faces being struck off after allegedly shouting “Who do you think you are?” at pupils and reducing them to tears.

Steven Charlesworth was teaching a third year class at Milne’s High School in Fochabers, Moray when he was alleged to have banged on a table, whilst shouting the cruel remark at pupils.

Following the alleged incident in December 2018, the maths teacher was also said to have reduced some pupils to tears with his actions, who then told staff of how he made them feel unsafe in his class.

Charlesworth also faces allegations of acting in an aggressive manner whilst verbally abusing a member of the staff while refusing to leave the school – which resulted in police being called.

Charlesworth, who has been employed with Aberdeenshire Council since 2004, now faces being struck off in an ongoing hearing in front of teaching watchdog General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).

Patricia Cameron, who was headteacher of Milne’s High School at the time of the incidents, gave evidence yesterday (MON) to the GTCS on the first day of the six-day-long hearing.

The 44-year-old former head described how she initially heard about the allegations from her deputy head, Mr Macleod.

She said: “He did supply work for us, there were initial concerns raised through parental complaints and how he was speaking to young people.

“Every term our leadership team would pop into classes to see how everything was going and from my recollection I don’t think Mr Charlesworth knew what was going on in his classroom.

“My deputy head Mr Macleod came to see me later to say there was an issue – he stated that he had heard shouting and had entered the class and could see pupils were visibly upset.

“They told him [my deputy] they didn’t feel safe in class.

“I contacted the local authority and they advised me to tell him [Charlesworth] to go home until the matter had been dealt with.

“Mr Charlesworth didn’t want to come down [to my office] as he wanted to speak to pupils in his class about their behaviour.”

Mrs Cameron was then asked by the Presenting Officer about her recollection of Charlesworth acting in a verbally abusive and aggressive manner towards her.

She said: “We were in my office and I invited him to have a seat. I told him that I would sit but he just preferred to stand by the door.

“He became aggressive and kept cutting me off [when I tried to speak] I told him the best thing he could do was to go home and call HR for more information.

“He kept asking for policies and procedures and refused point blank to leave, he was shouting at me by this point.

“He followed me out to the edge of the door and I told him if he didn’t leave then I would call the police, he told me to go ahead and call them.

“I was aware that the bell was about to go for lunch and he was unpredictable, I didn’t want anything to happen in front of pupils.

“He stated that he wasn’t leaving without a timesheet and when I said that I would post one out to him he just said he doesn’t do post.

“He said that pupils were badly behaved because of myself and other staff members.”

Charlesworth faces being removed from the teaching register if he is found to have breached parts 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.3, 4.1 and 4.2 of the GTCS’s Code of Professionalism and Conduct 2012.

The hearing continues.