‘Obscene and racist’ teacher banned from the classroom
A HISTORY teacher who made lewd and racist remarks to pupils has been struck off.
David McGhee also asked a ‘non-Caucasian’ pupil if they were sure they were ‘not a terrorist’ during a class at Hazlehead Academy in Aberdeen.
McGhee, who taught religious education, history and modern studies, was working at two schools in Aberdeen when he made a string of inappropriate comments between 2011 and 2013.
The teacher, who volunteers at a local church, tried and failed to have his hearing at the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) in Edinburgh held in private last month.
Referring to siblings aged between 14 and 15 at Harlaw Academy, McGhee said: ‘Every man’s dream, twins. Perhaps it’s every woman’s too?’
The 51-year-old also told a female colleague how pupils kept shouting ‘Sixty-nine’ when he entered his classroom.
He told the teacher: ‘Remember I spoke to you before about... coming into my class from PSE and talking about “sixty-niners”? Well I had to have words with two pupils for shouting out sixty-nine when I walked into their class.’
At the same school, McGhee told another female teacher in her classroom how he and his wife had picked up a leaflet for a brothel during a visit to Vienna, Austria.
On another occasion McGhee told a fourth year pupil: ‘It is possible to get an Egyptian down there along the lines of a Brazilian.’
This was in reference to shaving in intimate areas after a pupil made a comment about how another pupil’s haircut made her ‘look like an Egyptian’.
In March 2013, McGhee, who also volunteers for the Scouts, told one pupil at Hazlehead Academy: ‘Are you sure you are not a terrorist? That’s alright then, at least you are not putting poison on the door handle.’
Members of the panel, in their written decision, said they were satisfied the remark was of a racist nature despite McGhee saying he was referencing a 1997 film called The Jackal.
McGhee did not appear at the hearing and was not represented but sent a letter in which he denied all the allegations.
The GTCS panel said they were concerned that McGhee was ‘seeking to frustrate the proceedings and avoid the hearing’ after constantly using excuses to delay the hearing.
The panel concluded: ‘Many of the allegations involved a course of conduct of a sexual nature towards female colleagues.
‘Both the teacher’s professional competence and conduct fell significantly short of the standards expected and, therefore, we found that he is currently unfit to teach.’
‘Conduct fell short of standards’