I was bullied out of the job I loved ... simply for scolding a pupil who walked out of my classroom
Teacher’s fury as judge slams regime at leading Scots school
A TEACHER who lost his job after telling off a pupil has condemned the ‘culture of bullying’ at the top private school at which he worked.
Daniel Goodey won a £60,000 payout from the High School of Dundee last week after a tribunal ruled he had been unfairly dismissed.
Now the 58-year-old has spoken about how a minor stand-off with a pupil escalated and – amid ‘intimidation’ by school bosses – threatened to ruin his career.
The incident began when one pupil refused to work with another and stormed out of his classroom.
Mr Goodey, principal teacher of religious, moral and philosophical studies, called after the girl and, sighing in frustration, told her not to walk away.
He later found himself the subject of a complaint by the girl’s mother. But instead of supporting Mr Goodey, the headteacher demanded he apologise for his
‘She realised she wasn’t getting her way ’
conduct – without explaining what the complaint was about. As a result of the headteacher’s failure to back him, Mr Goodey resigned from the school and later went to a tribunal, claiming he had been unfairly constructively dismissed.
Last week, tribunal judge Ian McFatridge backed him and ruled: ‘There is no doubt in my mind that the dismissal was unfair.’
The school, which charges up to £13,650 a year in fees, dates back to the 13th Century. Its motto is Prestante Domino – With God As Our Guide – and former pupils include singer KT Tunstall, broadcaster Andrew Marr and Olympian Eilish McColgan.
Mr Goodey found himself at the centre of an investigation last year after making a noise described at the tribunal as ‘between a sigh of resignation and a growl of frustration’ when the pupil abruptly left his classroom.
The girl’s mother complained, and although its details were not initially relayed to Mr Goodey, the school repeatedly demanded that he apologise for his conduct.
After weeks of investigation by senior staff, including the school’s headteacher, Dr John Halliday, Mr Goodey eventually learned the details of the grievance.
Yesterday, he said: ‘It all began when a pupil refused to engage with a class assignment.
‘I asked her on several occasions why she refused to work with another pupil and no clear reason was given, other than a general dislike. I did come up with alternative ways for the work to be completed with minimal contact between the pupils, but when she realised she wasn’t getting her way the pupil left the classroom abruptly.
‘Rather than be offended, I sighed in frustration and called after her not to walk away angry.’
He said the girl’s mother interpreted his sigh as a growl, complained and demanded her daughter be removed from his class.
Mr Goodey said: ‘A few days later, I was told a complaint had been made and that the pupil was being withdrawn from my classes.
‘I was told to write an incident report, which indicated to me that things had escalated. Subsequently, I was required to attend a series of meetings with Dr Halliday, where I was repeatedly instructed to write out an apology to the pupil.
‘When I asked what I should be apologising for, I was told that sometimes we just need to apologise to help things move forward.
‘I was concerned what such a precedent would set and what it would mean for teaching in the school if pupils could refuse to engage with assignments.’
Mr Goodey, from Perthshire, described the meetings with Dr Halliday, 64, as ‘extremely fraught’ and ‘designed to intimidate’, with raised voices and long silences.
Four weeks after the complaint was made he had still not been told the details of the accusation.
Mr Goodey said: ‘I insisted that I needed to see the actual complaint to know how to formally respond. Once I did have the details I found that the issue, according to the pupil, was not actually me but her feelings of insecurity at not being able to do the work well enough.’
He said that had he been aware of this he could have given the student reassurance.
Mr Goodey, a former law enforcement officer in the US, added: ‘Not only had I been subjected to very stressful and intimidating actions by senior managers, the pupil’s real needs and concerns were not actually being addressed.’
He stressed he does not blame the pupil or her mother and said that the ‘real problem’ was the approach adopted by school management, who ‘had acted in a bullying and intimidating manner’.
In his judgment, Mr McFatridge said: ‘Instead of dealing with the matter properly the respondent’s management sought to bully the teacher into apologising.
‘When the teacher remonstrated about this it was seen as a further sign of insubordination.’
Yesterday Iain Bett, chairman of the High School of Dundee’s board of directors, said: ‘We are considering appealing the employment tribunal judgment. The school refutes these allegations about its culture, which are not supported by facts.’
‘Extremely fraught and designed to intimidate’