23-24/91

I refer to your request for information dated 7 February 2024 (FOI 23 - 24 / 91) in which you asked for information on Teachers who have been involved in disciplinary processes due to their behaviour on social media which we have handled under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA). We requested clarification on 14 and 15 February to which you responded each day.

Specifically, you submitted five discrete queries for the number of teachers “brought before a fitness to teach panel as a result of social media posts” in the last five years. The number who “had temporary restriction orders imposed while awaiting investigation” outcomes. You also asked for the number of teachers “subsequently reprimanded because of their investigation”, “subsequently removed from their post/ position” and those with “no case to answer due to their investigation.”

We requested multiple clarifications from you on whether the five-year period and social media consideration applied to every query which you confirmed it did. We also asked if your reference to cases that “have been brought before a Fitness to Teach Panel” applied to each query or just those cases where an investigation was opened but may not have gone as far as a Panel, which you confirmed it would apply to each query. You also confirmed that your references to “reprimand”, “removed from post” and “their investigation” refer to activities taken by GTC Scotland and not the Local Authority.

We then specified on 16 February that we would have to spend excessive resources locating, retrieving and providing the information which would incur a fee under section 12 of FOISA. We suggested that you limit the scope of your request for statistics from the last year. In your reply of 1 March, you agreed to limit the scope of your request to the last year which we have calculated from 1 March 2023 to 1 March 2024.

Please see our response to each of your queries below.

Firstly, you asked for the "number of teachers brought before fitness to teach panels as a result of social media posts” in the last year. We have interpreted this to be for teachers who made posts on social media websites such as Facebook, Snapchat, Tik Tok and Twitter/X between 1 March 2023 and 1 March 2024 which resulted in the Teacher being subjected to a GTC Scotland fitness to teach process.

Within that time period, a total of 24 cases were considered at the Panel Consideration stage. Panel Consideration happens in a case once an investigation of a referral has taken place - the purpose of this stage is for a Panel to determine what should happen in the case next. Of the 24 cases considered, fewer than 5 involved a Teacher who was considered by the Panel due to their posting on social media.

Similarly, within that time period, a total of 32 were considered at the Full Hearing Stage, see point 3.6 of the Fitness to Teach Rules and our website for more information on the Full Hearing Stage. Of the 32 cases, fewer than 5 involved a Teacher who was considered by the Full Hearing due to their posting on social media.

You will see that I have not provided the exact number as there are fewer than five. This is because disclosing these low numbers could enable individuals to be identified. This would breach data protection principles set out in data protection legislation. FOISA does not require us to provide this sort of information as it is exempt under section 38(1)(b).

Secondly, you also asked for the “number of teachers who have had temporary restriction orders imposed” while awaiting an investigation outcome. Of the 30 cases identified during this period, none resulted in a temporary restriction order being put in place due to a posting to social media.

Thirdly, you asked for the “number of teachers subsequently reprimanded” because of an investigation. Of the fewer than 5 cases identified, none resulted in a reprimand being imposed by GTC Scotland on a Teacher for their posting on social media.

Fourthly, you asked for the “number of teachers subsequently removed from their post” because of an investigation. Of the 19 cases where a teacher was removed from the Register due to their conduct between 1 March 2023 and 1 March 2024, none related to social media posts made by the Teacher.

Finally, you asked for the “number of teachers found with no case to answer” because of an investigation. Of the 214 cases closed between 1 March 2023 and 1 March 2024, a total of 75 resulted in “no further action taken after investigation” with 66 of those cases closed by an investigating officer prior to reaching the Panel Consideration stage. None of the identified cases related to social media posts made by the Teacher.

I hope this information is helpful. If you are dissatisfied with this response, you may contact informationgovernance@gtcs.org.uk to request GTCS conduct a review of this decision. You should describe the original request and explain your grounds of review. You have 40 working days from receipt of this decision to submit a review request. When the review process has been completed, if you are still dissatisfied, you may use the Scottish Information Commissioner`s guidance on making an appeal to make an appeal to the Commissioner.