A TEACHER has been struck off after an education official witnessed the "worst classroom disruption of his career".

Maria Sakkadas failed to ­discipline pupils who ate, drank, slept, walked about listening to music and played on their mobile phones in her class.

One youngster sat on his chair like it was a horse and shouted "Ye hah" while another, emerging from under his desk, was told by Ms Sakkadas: "I wondered where you were."

The English teacher at St Paul's High in Glasgow presided over chaotic scenes and would discipline quiet pupils while others threw paper, read newspapers and did homework for other subjects.

Pupils at the Catholic school in Pollok who asked for help were told to "just get on with it".

Ms Sakkadas was sacked for "chronic incompetence" in 2011 but was allowed back into the same school on appeal eight months later.

Further mayhem followed - resulting in complaints from the teacher's own pupils - and she was sacked again and reported to the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).

At a hearing in Edinburgh yesterday, a GTCS panel found that numerous allegations relating to her competence to teach had been proved.

David Byrne, a quality control officer at Glasgow City Council, told the panel he observed two of Ms Sakkadas's lessons.

Mr Byrne, a former English teacher, said: "For six years I have been an observation officer and been involved in eight cases like this but none to this level. I have never seen worse disruption in a classroom."

The official had a feedback session with Ms Sakkadas in which she admitted the pupils' behaviour was often worse, which he said he found "deeply worrying". He said: "The kids just scrunched up the paper and threw them at each other. The class moved on to read a novel. Some weren't on the right page and some had no books.

"I couldn't follow what she was asking myself. The instructions weren't clear so no learning could take place."

The headteacher of St Paul's, Lisa Pierotti, told the hearing: "There was lots of noise coming from the classrooms, banging on desks and a ruckus instead of learning noise. [There were] pupils reading newspapers and ignoring the teacher, sleeping with their heads on the desk and walking about the classroom listening to their MP3s."

GTCS case presenter Gary Burton said there was no doubt fellow teachers had put in place a "robust support strategy", but despite this "there are clear examples of Ms Sakkadas failing to communicate and failing to deliver tasks to pupils".

Panel convenor Neil MClauchlan said yesterday: "The panel has determined that the respondent is unfit to teach.

"As a result it has been recommended that the respondent must be removed from the register."