A group of teachers exchanged WhatsApp messages containing “degrading” references to disabled primary school students, BBC Scotland is able to reveal.
Staff at schools in Aberdeenshire faced an internal investigation but the parents of the pupils involved were not informed.
Scotland’s Children’s Commissioner said parents should be informed.
Aberdeenshire Council said the messages were “inappropriate and unprofessional”.
The Scottish Children and Youth Commissioner has raised concerns about the incident in recent months.
- Fears about teachers securing investigations
The commissioner said concerns about the WhatsApp group were raised in a letter to Aberdeenshire Council in November last year.
The messages contained “unprofessional, abusive and degrading” references to children with additional support needs attending schools in the area.
It said: “The behavior of the professionals involved is a serious problem in relation to any child, but especially when it comes to vulnerable disabled children.”
In response, the local authority said the messages related to “disputes and allegations between employees and their behavior towards one another”.
Aberdeenshire Council launched an investigation into the WhatsApp group and said it had taken “proportionate action”.
However, parents or carers were not informed of the incident or the content of the messages.
A spokeswoman for the council said: “Any concern raised for the protection of the child will always be duly considered by social work colleagues and, where necessary, investigated together with appropriate partner organisations. The WhatsApp group messages were no different.
“Colleagues from education, human resources and childcare looked into the matter before ensuring staff received additional training, including appropriate guidance on how to use online platforms.
“At no time were children considered to be at risk – therefore no contact was made with the parents.”
The spokeswoman added that the council has commissioned an independent review of its approach to the messages, some of which date back to 2018. The review concluded that the issue had been adequately addressed.
The Aberdeenshire case comes as concerns were raised that some misconduct allegations against teachers in Scotland are not being properly investigated.
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