A teacher at a Scottish school has been banned from the classroom for two years after making offensive comments, including that "Jesus was gay". 

Donna Gilchrist was employed by Beath High School in Cowdenbeath, Fife, for only 30 days between December 2017 and January 2018. 

Despite her short tenure, she made a number of comments in the classroom that drew concern from pupils, parents and staff at the school. 

In August, she was struck off the teaching register by the General Teaching Council (GTC) Scotland after being deemed unfit to teach.

GTC solicitor Jennifer McPhee said the allegations against Gilcrhist were of the utmost seriousness, the Dundee Courier reports.

They included using a racial slur and telling a devout Christian pupil that "Jesus was gay". 

In one incident she called a red-haired pupil "the ginger one". Other complaints concerned talking about porn in the classroom and mocking overweight people and a pupil with dyslexia while she was reading. 

It was also reported that Gilchrist had played age-inappropriate videos in class containing swearing, violence and sexual references.

The GTC this week imposed a two-year teaching ban on Gilchrist, meaning that she cannot apply to be re-added to the teaching register until 2025. 

The council said it wanted her to use the time to reflect on her conduct and "demonstrate insight".

"The panel considered that a shorter time period was inappropriate as the conduct found proved is very serious," the GTC said in a written judgment. 

Ms McPhee said that while Gilchrist had not broken any laws, her conduct was "most definitely unprofessional".

"The public would be concerned the teacher had caused so much disruption, upset and offence during such a short tenure," she said. 

"She has shown no clear understanding of how to teach pupils with additional needs or how to respect the religion of pupils.

"And the level of seriousness is compounded by the lack of insight.

"Using and allowing the use of the word n***** is completely unacceptable."