Teacher who 'inappropriately' touched children at Paisley school Covid Hub struck off

A primary teacher who admitted inappropriately touching children has been banned from working in the profession.

David White was teaching at a Covid Hub at Williamsburgh Primary School in Paisley in January 2021 when the incidents took place.

Schools in Scotland were closed to most pupils during the pandemic but special arrangements were made for those with additional needs or whose parents were key workers.

While working with the pupils, White admitted unnecessary physical contact with the children.

His actions were seen by a second teacher who raised concerns with the school’s deputy head teacher.

At a previous hearing by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), White admitted holding and rubbing the hands of pupils, placing his hands on the lower backs of pupils and rubbing their backs, placing his hands on the chair seat close to the pupils’ bottoms and bending down in front of a pupil until their noses touched.

He also admitted sitting on a chair with his legs open while holding another pupil’s hand and rubbing it.

A GTCS panel found that he sat on one of the children’s chairs and pulled a pupil close to him until they were straddling his leg. The witness said the pupil tried to softly pull away but White held their hands tighter and pulled them closer.

The panel also found that he had put his feet under a pupil’s stomach near the hip area and looked at a pupil’s exposed skin after his jumper rode up before asking him to repeat the action three or four times.

White was previously deemed unfit to practice with his legal representative arguing that his action’s had “not been deliberate or intended and were ‘not sinister'”.

She added that the allegation occurred during the pandemic with “consequent stress for teachers” and that a removal of registration was “inappropriate”.

The GTCS panel concluded that White should be struck off the teaching register with his behaviour described as an “abuse of trust”.

It was determined that he had “repeatedly encroached on the pupils’ space without permission” and that the allegations found proven were “serious, involving unnecessary physical contact with pupils on a number of occasions”.

Once the teacher’s name has been removed from the Register, he will be unable to teach until an application for re-registration is made by him and a Fitness to Teach Panel considers his case.

A Renfrewshire Council spokesperson said: “We acknowledge the outcome of the hearing.”