A FIFE chemistry teacher who allowed pupils to watch pornographic cartoons has been struck off.

Claire Thompson first played a video of Shrek having sex with an orphan boy on a smart board after a request from pupils.

A fifth year student told a disciplinary hearing of the General Teaching Council for Scotland that the five or six minute film was put on at the end of a higher chemistry class.

It showed a cartoon of Shrek going into a residential school and having sexual intercourse with a young orphan boy. Other inappropriate videos of a sexual nature were also shown and the panel heard that Thomson "seemed to think they were funny" and didn't turn them off.

The pupil said she "felt embarrassed" when the videos were being played and didn't like it and reported it to the school's Depute Headteacher.

A classmate said he had expected the teacher to turn it off however she "watched it for a bit and laughed." He described the video as graphic and inappropriate to be shown in class.

He remembered other videos being shown on other occasions particularly an inappropriate one about German and Russian torture techniques. He said there were two or three follow-up Shrek videos shown, with the same theme of Shrek having sexual intercourse with a boy.

The pupil told the hearing that videos were played about once a week after the first Shrek one was shown and they were inappropriate videos to show in class.

The school's headteacher told the GTCS disciplinary hearing – which Thompson did not attend – that she became aware of the incidents in January 2017 and asked her depute to look into the allegations.

She said the videos were graphic and violent and the Shrek one was pornographic. In one of them, Shrek raped children in school and the headteacher admitted that she had been shocked at the films which were "highly inappropriate and of a sexual nature."

The depute head said the videos were "inappropriate, sexual and paedophilic". She told the panel that when Thompson was interviewed by the headteacher, she was "defiant and confrontational" and said it was the school's fault, the previous teacher's fault and the kids' fault.

Thompson was suspended from her job in February 2017.

The decision report by the GTCS said: "The teacher did not seem to appreciate the seriousness of the allegation. In the interview, the teacher admitted that the video-clip was put on by the pupils and she said to turn it off. That was not consistent with what the pupils said.

"The pupils were not a group of friends, they were a mix of pupils of various levels and abilities. The Depute Headteacher had no reason to disbelieve them."

The panel found Thompson guilty of two charges and deemed her unfit to teach.

Firstly, on exact dates unknown between October 2016 and December 2016, while employed by Fife Council as a chemistry teacher, she repeatedly allowed pupils to watch material of an inappropriate and sexual nature during classes and in her presence. In doing so, she also misused council equipment.

A further charged of repeatedly leaving pupils unsupervised in her classroom was also proved.

One pupil said Thompson would leave class sometimes for up to half an hour.

Thompson was removed from the teaching register and will not be able to reapply for two years.

In its decision report, the GTCS panel said Thompson's behaviour was "fundamentally incompatible" with being a registered teacher.

It added: "The teacher’s behaviour was not what was expected of a teacher. It was not responsible behaviour for a teacher. It fell short of the expected professional standards.

"The teacher had not fully admitted the allegations, or offered a clear expression of regret to the class. In her response documents, although she made partial admissions she blamed other circumstances such as lack of support within the department.

"Because the teacher did not attend the hearing, the Panel was unable to question her to ascertain more clearly the level of her insight in order to remediate the conduct and mitigate against the risk of it happening again."

It has been reported that Thompson was working at Queen Anne High at the time however the school was not named in the ruling from the GTCS and Fife Council were also unable to confirm where it had taken place.

Fife Council's head of education and children's services, Shelagh McLean, said: "As a responsible employer, we don't discuss the individual circumstances of any current or former employees."