Highland teacher struck off for changing pupils’ exam answers and lying about it; General Teaching Council for Scotland issued the ruling after the teacher admitted the code breaches which stemmed back his time at Invergordon Academy in Ross-shire
A Highland teacher who gave answers to upcoming exams to his pupils and even modified their submissions before lying about it when caught has been struck off Scotland’s teaching register for two years.
Paul Herbert was a teacher at Invergordon Academy in Easter Ross when he committed several breaches.
He recently admitted the allegations in writing to the General Teaching Council for Scotland following an investigation.
These included preparing a practice task for his Higher Computing Science pupils "consisting of constructs he knew would appear in the live assessment" between January 1 and June 20, 2019.
He also admitted failure to comply with Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) requirements in the 2021-22 Higher Computing Science assessment by supplying solutions to some tasks prior to or during the assignments; as well as modifying pupils’ submissions electronically and "submit[ting] modified candidate submissions to the SQA as candidates' own work".
He further admitted that when suspicions arose over his actions that he failed to provide "a truthful account to senior leaders during their investigation into suspected SQA malpractice".
Mr Herbert admitted that his actions "were dishonest or... lacking in integrity" as he had sought to give his pupils an "unfair advantage" during their assessments, and had then "sought to mislead his senior leaders and disrupt their investigations".
The General Teaching Council for Scotland said: "In light of the above, it is alleged that the teacher's fitness to teach is impaired and he is unfit to teach as a result of breaching... the General Teaching Council for Scotland's code of professionalism and conduct".
In response to the breaches GTCS has removed him from its register, and he will be barred from applying to rejoin the register of teachers for two years.
