SCOTLAND’S children’s commissioner has said that Aberdeenshire Council should have told parents about a WhatsApp group in which a teacher said he would “happily stab kids”.
The existence of the chat between staff at Aberdeenshire schools was first revealed by the BBC in 2022, with a range of messages singling out specific children’s behaviour – and a particular comment by one teacher saying he would “happily stab” a pupil with a pencil making headlines.
Aberdeenshire Council decided at the time not to tell the parents, arguing that the exchanges did not give any child protection concerns. They commissioned an independent review which said that the messages were “disparaging” but backed the decision not to tell parents.
Now, Police Scotland has just concluded assessing the messages, finding there was no criminality.
READ MORE: Teachers investigated over ‘degrading’ messages about additional needs pupils
And The National has also revealed the full extent of the disturbing messages, which also show a lack of empathy for those with special needs and comments disrespecting parents.
Nick Hobbs, head of advice and investigations for the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, told The National that his office raised a “number of concerns” with Aberdeenshire Council about this case from 2021 onwards.
Among those was the “failure” to tell the children and their families about the WhatsApp messages, either at the time or subsequently.
“We repeatedly made clear to the council that the children’s rights issues engaged went beyond simply child protection and engaged rights to education, to non-discrimination and to privacy,” he said.
“This decision (to not inform parents) denied their right to complain, to seek redress and to receive an apology from the council.
“We were disappointed that the council’s independent review did not properly engage with any of these issues and that our office was not permitted to contribute to the evidence gathering.
“We have called for Aberdeenshire Council to deal with any future incidents in a more rights-respecting manner.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel