The reputation of a retired Angus teacher is in tatters after he was struck from the profession’s register over an inappropriate comments made to a teenage pupil.
James “Jim” Jamieson, who taught computing at Carnoustie High School, was found unfit to teach by a panel at the General Teaching Council For Scotland on Tuesday, four years after he retired from an “unblemished” career.
The panel heard that he told the girl, who was then in fourth year, “you don’t need to dye your hair, you’re a natural beauty”, after she had coloured her hair red.
In a statement read to the GTCS the girl, who was identified only as “pupil 1”, said after she had left school at the end of fifth year she had been scared when Mr Jamieson came into the shop where she worked and that on two later occasions she spotted him staring through the window at her.
The panel also heard from Doreen Redfern, who was deputy head at Carnoustie but is now head of Arbroath High.
She said that during her investigation into the allegations, she formed the impression that Mr Jamieson did not grasp the seriousness of the situation and was “evasive” and “calculated” in his answers to her.
Mr Jamieson faced a number of charges relating to an inappropriate relationship with the girl. He admitted contacting her through an online version of Scrabble, called Word Feud between March and April 2012.
He also admitted that during the conversation, in which the talented highland dancer had told him she had been practicing, he had replied “Wish I could see that” and calling the conversation “our secret”, but denied all other accusations.
However, following the one-day hearing the disciplinary panel found that he had told other pupils that the girl was “lovely” in December 2011, and that between March and May 2012 he had asked for her phone number and asked to add her as a friend on Facebook after he retired.
A charge that he had repeatedly asked her to stay back at school on her own with him was found not proven.
Alistair Milne, representing Mr Jamieson, said the teenage girl had sent a Facebook friend request to her teacher, but that he had ignored it.
Statements from former colleagues of Mr Jamieson said he was a highly professional individual who ran after-school study sessions for all his pupils around exam time to help them achieve the best results possible.
The GTCS panel ruled that Jamieson’s fitness to teach was impaired as a result of breaching parts of the GTCS Code of Professionalism and Conduct.
Presenting officer for the GTCS, Kate Hart, recommended that the case be referred to the government’s Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme.
She said that Mr Jamieson’s conduct had taken place over the course of four months and that he had shown no insight or remorse.
