A teacher who was unfairly sacked from a private school in Perth over claims he pulled a pupil’s hair says his career has been ruined by the ordeal.
Mark Dibnah was fired for gross misconduct after an incident at Craigclowan Preparatory School on February 20 2023.
The 60-year-old had been accused of losing his temper, kicking a table and pulling a boy’s hair.
But an employment tribunal in Dundee unanimously ruled that he had been unfairly dismissed.
The disciplinary panel also felt that Craigclowan head teacher Liz Henderson “lacked the necessary degree of impartiality to conduct a fair disciplinary hearing.”
The school has not ruled out appealing the decision.
‘Limited’ chances of getting new job after unfair dismissal
Mark has been a primary school teacher for 25 years.
He began his career at state schools in his native Leeds, before working in Portugal at an international school in the Algarve.
In 2008 he moved to Scotland and began teaching seven to eight-year-olds at Craigclowan.
His wife Carol also took up a teaching job at the private school, which charges £5,370 per term.
Mark says his career has been ruined after the school involved the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) and Disclosure Scotland (DS).
This has made it impossible for him to apply for another teaching job.
Mrs Henderson also reported the incident to the police, and it was not until November that Mark learnt that no criminal action would be taken against him.
“I just wasn’t supported by the head,” Mark told The Courier.
“Instead she reported me to the police.
“They have ruined my career.
“The chances of me getting a full-time job in teaching are limited.
“I would just like to know why they dismissed me.”
Mother of pupil alerted Craigclowan School to incident
When the incident happened he was teaching a group of Year 9 pupils who were “behaving in a very silly manner” on the first day back after half-term.
In the tribunal he said one of the children – known as pupil A – had started to “mimick the less good behaviour of the rest of the class”.
Mark told the hearing: “I went over to A. I took his arm, sat him down, looked him in the face and told him his behaviour was not acceptable.
“I told the rest of the group, then told the other group. It had the desired effect. They got down to the activity.”
The following day a mother of pupil P, who witnessed the incident, emailed Mrs Henderson to say their daughter had “got the fright of her life as the teacher yelled and grabbed a pupil by the arm and yanked him across the desk whilst shouting at him.”
They added: “He then grabbed his hair and lifted his head up and back whilst still shouting at him.”
Pupil A testified that the teacher “got very angry and kicked the table. He pulled my hand and pulled up my hair and head. He shouted at us all.”
He added that Mark had always been kind and treated him well in the past and his mother had not wanted any action to be taken against him.
However, a school governor concluded that the teacher “grabbed Pupil A, forcibly moved his head, lost [his] temper and acted in an unprofessional manner, as set out in the allegations.”
Perth head teacher lacked ‘necessary degree of impartiality’
A disciplinary hearing, conducted by Mrs Henderson, took place on March 13 2023 – the same day the head teacher contacted the police.
On April 6 she wrote to Mark informing him he had been sacked.
The letter referred to other incidents that, she argued, proved it was not a “one-off incident”.
In one case in 2020, he “stabbed a football” in front of pupils and was “overly angry” with another.
However, employment judge William Meiklejohn, supported by tribunal members Debbie McDougall and Russell Martin, unanimously ruled that he had been unfairly dismissed.
The panel felt Mrs Henderson involved herself to such a significant degree that she “lacked the necessary degree of impartiality to conduct a fair disciplinary hearing.”
“We do not suggest any element of bad faith on Mrs Henderson’s part, but this was not a fair disciplinary process.” the report said.
“We found that this was…enough to tip the scales in favour of a finding of unfair dismissal.”
The panel agreed that there was a 75% to 80% probability that Mark would have been sacked anyway, but that the way he was dismissed was unfair.
The school and the complainant were asked to come to a compromise on the amount of compensation awarded to him.
‘I really want to make it explicit that I did nothing wrong’
The employment judge said that Mark’s passion for teaching was very apparent and his “belief in himself as a good teacher was supported by the content of the character references.”
Mark told The Courier: “I have been a teacher for more than 25 years and have been recognised as an excellent teacher during all that time.
“There has not been one blemish on my record.
“I have never been in a situation like this before.
“I really want to make it explicit that I did nothing wrong.
“I have never pulled anyone’s hair in my life – I can be categorical about that.
“On the actual incident I just encouraged the child to sit down in a way that I have done throughout my career.
“I took his arm and went down to his level and spoke to him in a way that he knew I wasn’t happy with his behaviour in class, and that his responsibility there was to learn.
“That is my duty as a teacher, which is to maintain good discipline in the classroom.
“That is what a teacher needs to do to do their job, and that is what I did on this day.
“The problem with what Ms Henderson and the school did was that they took very limited evidence presented to them and went straight through to dismissal.
“It was not properly investigated by the senior management team.”
Teacher’s wife takes redundancy from school
Outside the classroom, Mark has helped run skiing, swimming and gardening programmes for Craigclowan pupils.
“One of the things that has made it possible for me to carry on is that I have been supported by the parents and staff at Craigclowan,” he said.
“We were given 28 letters testifying to my good character.
“These were from friends, colleagues and parents.
“I feel let down by the senior management team and the governors – not my colleagues.”
Mark was represented in the hearing by wife Carol, who has now taken redundancy from the school because she felt her position had become untenable.
“Neither of us have a professional job now,” Mark said.
“We have to take our pensions early.
“We are in a certain situation emotionally and financially that we wouldn’t be in if this action wasn’t taken against us.
“I gave this school everything and I have been kicked in the teeth by them.
“I have been treated without respect.”
School says legal process ‘still ongoing’
Mrs Henderson has been in a senior management role at Craigclowan since 2014, when she was appointed joint acting head.
She later became the deputy head before taking on her current role as head teacher in 2022.
A spokesperson for the school pointed out that its safeguarding policies were praised in a March 2023 Education Scotland report.
They added: “Craigclowan acted quickly and decisively in response to a situation where there was concern a member of staff’s conduct had fallen short of what we expect.
“However, due to the fact that a live legal process is still ongoing, including a potential appeal of the decision, it would not be appropriate to comment on the judgment in any detail.
“The school notes that the tribunal panel was ‘able to agree that there was a very significant probability that the claimant would have been dismissed if a fair procedure had been followed.’”
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