Fears over teacher whistleblowing form anonymity

The forms are aimed at reporting concerns about pupils

A pupil violence whistleblowing form introduced for teachers could be reviewed after concerns were raised over its effectiveness.

Aberdeen City Council introduced the forms in March after staff complained they were being discouraged from reporting violent incidents involving pupils.

A Freedom of Information (FoI) request by BBC Scotland News has found only one form has been submitted.

One teacher said there were concerns about their anonymity being maintained.

The council said it was prepared to review and improve the whisteblowing process if teachers felt it was inadequate.

The forms allow staff to directly raise their concerns with the council if they feel incidents are not being properly reported.

But one teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, said there was some nervousness among himself and colleagues surrounding the process.

“I think colleagues are generally a bit wary of using something like that in case they end up being identified,” he said.

“But beyond that, and perhaps more crucially, if such a system is necessary then surely that is a bald admission of the fact that the systems that are in place are not working.”

Ron Constable, branch secretary of the EIS teaching union in Aberdeen, said he did not believe the forms were “a viable method of tackling violence and aggression incidents" in schools.

"With a specific whistleblowing form for teachers, that leaves the EIS out of the whole process," he said.

Mr Constable said he also felt that potential identification, particularly in smaller schools, was an issue.

"If you bring forward an incident, although anonymity is guaranteed in a whistleblowing form, it's very difficult to guarantee that anonymity when you only have eight to 15 people within a classroom," he said.

"If there was a particular incident it would become apparent as to who is alleging the incident and who is concerned about it."

'Robust procedure'

Martin Greig, convener of the council’s education and children’s services committee, said it was important that the whistleblowing form process had the "support and confidence" of everyone in the school community, including teachers and unions.

"If there are flaws in the whistleblowing procedure, then they need to be identified and we need to resolve them,” he said.

"It needs to be a robust, strong procedure.

"We want to hear what teachers and staff are saying, so obviously if it’s not working then we need to review it and improve it."