The General Teaching Council for Scotland is to investigate one of its own elected members.

James Forbes, a modern languages teacher at Lasswade High School Centre in Midlothian, faces three charges of alleged misconduct following a preliminary hearing this month:

that he used “aggressive and threatening language” in a confrontation with GTCS convener David Drever;

that he failed to “engage in a reasonable manner” with the GTCS by refusing official correspondence related to the matter, and refusing to attend meetings to hear the complaints against him;

and that he used language of an “inappropriate nature” in an email sent to the GTCS referring to council members Thomas Kirk, who represents the Association of Directors of Social Work in Scotland, and secondary head George Wynne.

Last year Mr Forbes petitioned the Scottish Parliament to have the two Scottish Government-appointed representatives of the Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church barred from sitting on GTCS committees.