A Scots teacher has been reprimanded for lying on an application for a new job, claiming she held senior roles at schools when she had not.
Jillian Hamilton-Cooper was found out when a would-be new employer contacted her boss for a reference for a role as a science teacher.
The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) revealed this week Ms Hamilton-Cooper had claimed to have held an acting principal teacher post at Calderhead High in Shotts when she applied for a new job with West Lothian Council, reports Lanarkshire Live.
She also told them she was a faculty head, or principal teacher curriculum, and had been promoted to a middle leadership job during her four years at the school, in North Lanarkshire.
She also lied during an interview about how she conducted herself in the "promoted role", saying she had "developed routines, frameworks, systems, and processes and talked about her team, owning that team, setting the standards within her own team and leading and managing that team".
However, the truth emerged when one of the interviewers made contact with Calderhead High to check out her references.
Ms Hamilton-Cooper agreed with her head teacher to withdraw her application and tell colleagues the "role was too big for her at the moment".
However, he became concerned when a short time later in February last year, she applied for a further principal teacher job and asked him for a reference.
A report published by the GTCS explained: "Witness 1 (headteacher) speaks to feeling unable to provide a positive reference for the teacher, especially in light of their agreement that she would not apply for further posts for a few years and until she had undertaken professional development.
"Witness 1 also speaks to a concern about the teacher advising a probationer teacher how to complete an application form, which had been hugely exaggerated. The probationer teacher confirmed that the teacher had told him to do this. "
Hamilton-Cooper admitted the allegations in full and offered multiple apologies to everyone involved and was given a final written warning by her employer.
The GTCS found her conduct amounted to breaches of professional standards, the report added: "The panel were not convinced that the teacher was fully aware of the seriousness of her conduct.
In addition, the panel had information from the teacher’s employer that suggested she had limited insight into her conduct, evidenced by her applying for another position and asking for a reference a few months after the allegations, when she had agreed she would ‘keep her head down’ and ‘develop as a professional’ before perhaps applying for a role further into the future."
They imposed a Conditional Registration Order on her for the next 12 months to monitor and control her behaviour and ensure she takes appropriate action to prevent a repeat of her behaviour.
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