‘Gangsta Rap’ teacher faces disciplinary hearing 20/2/14
A Barra teacher failed to raise the alarm about a female pupil believed to be off
the island with her 24-
Janice Ross of Castlebay is also said to have given preferential treatment to a gang
of favourite pupils-
Before she was sacked as an English teacher at Castlebay Secondary in 2010, the 49-
Ms Ross, who is a presenter on Barra’s internet radio station, Siar FM, is accused of being unfit to teach.
She faces a competency hearing in front of the General Teaching Council for Scotland
(GTCS) later this month. The panel has the power to strike-
The GTCS gives a raft of examples to back up complaints she allegedly failed to maintain the standards required of a teacher between January 2007 and August 2010 at Castlebay School.
The charge alleges that “your fitness to teach is impaired and you are unfit to teach.”
It is claimed she undermined school assessor John Dillon when “he was teaching one of your English classes by sitting in the class, sharing out sweets among pupils, reading aloud contrary to his request and leaving the class room while laughing during his lesson.”
It is said she failed to properly prepare students for Higher English by teaching
the class non-
The GTCS say her “repeatedly having pupils read text out loud as the mechanism for learning and by repeatedly ‘dictating’ your own notes out loud for pupils to write down” had a lack of stimulation.
Concentrating principally on only one aspect of the curriculum at a time for several weeks did not help pupils, it is maintained.
It is alleged “you continued to teach and deliver the English curriculum in this way despite repeated complaints by parents and meetings and correspondence with the Head of Children’s Service regarding those complaints, in particular throughout the school year 2008/2009.”
Despite repeated requests from Western Isles Council education bosses, Ms Ross repeatedly failed to demonstrate she had a plan for effective teaching and learning which would help pupils improve, it is claimed.
She is accused of failing to set “assessment, homework and targets with your pupils, particularly in your examination classes despite complaints from parents made to your employers in 2008 about a lack of homework and target setting in Higher English.”
Crucial work for the English Higher prelim was only done just before the Christmas
holidays -
She is accused of failing to “set homework and pace lessons leading to the said complaints from parents, in particular throughout school year 2008/2009.”
In December 2007, Ms Ross was fined £100 and received six penalty points on her licence at Lochmaddy Sheriff Court for driving pupils and other young people when she held only a provisional driving licence and had no insurance.
It is also said she lied after claiming to have a full licence when applying for the post with Western Isles Council.
It is alleged she was not honest about being sacked from Castlebay School when applying for a job as a supply teacher with Highland Council in September 2013.