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Former Brighton Teacher who called pupils 'poofs' and 'batty boys', barred from classroom by General Teaching Council for England

By James Ledward
Jan 24, 2012 - 10:08:54 PM
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A teacher who made homophobic comments about pupils, calling them "poofs" and "batty boys" has been barred from teaching indefinitely by the General Teaching Council for England.

The Huffington Post website reported that Jason Gibbs faced allegations from four schools where he taught either as a permanent or supply teacher between 2000 and 2009.

Gibbs made several 'homophobic comments', while teaching at East Brighton College of Media Arts in 2003.

He told one male student:
"Don't go into the shower because this group will start bending you over and do you up the ass".

He also called one group of boys "poofs" and "batty boys", one pupil a "wanker" and another a "fat twat".

The disciplinary panel were told while at the school, Gibbs held a pupil by the back of the neck, threw him down a grass bank and kneed the pupil's injured knee, causing it to bleed.

Gibbs, who qualified as a teacher in 2000, didn't tell two of the schools he taught at that he had suffered from depression since 2003. He  was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder in 2008.

Gibbs, told the GTCE he had "always wanted to be a teacher and cared deeply about the education of young people".

Minna Nathoo, chair of the GTCE panel, said:
"Such remarks tend to humiliate and offend pupils. They also show a lack of respect by the teacher, who in addition is expected to be a role model."

"This is a teacher who has resigned from one school after another, at a point when disciplinary action was being initiated as a result of inappropriate behaviour. This misbehaviour was then repeated at the next school."

"He appears to have learnt nothing from this experience. Further, in order to obtain his later jobs, he withheld relevant information. His misconduct is serious. It resulted in pupils being put at serious risk of physical harm."

Jason Gibbs was struck off the teaching register indefinitely and cannot challenge the order for at least two years.


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