A TEACHER was so incompetent her entire top level maths class failed a test and she was unable to answer problems she set her students, a hearing has been told.

Janet Garner struggled to control pupils and her classes were like a battleground, witnesses told the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).

The Clackmannanshire teacher faces being struck off, nine years after serious complaints emerged and six years after she was sacked.

Mrs Garner, who taught at high schools in Alva and Alloa, was struck off in 2011 but that decision was overturned after a court ruling that the GTCS had not properly proved the allegations.

The watchdog relaunched the case in Edinburgh this week.

Case presenter Joyce Cullen said test results in February 2004 for Mrs Garner's S3 class at Alva Academy were so poor the "whole class of credit level pupils failed overall". Another time, said Mrs Cullen, Alloa's deputy head was observing a lesson in which Mrs Garner made a basic maths error.

During another lesson the same year, Mrs Garner told pupils their answers were wrong when they were correct. Despite her own alleged ­failings, Mrs Garner could be critical of pupils. According to Mrs Cullen she asked one child: "Are you completely useless?"

Stuart Rycroft, a former deputy head at Alva Academy, said he had never had a teacher who had received so many complaints.

At a hearing in 2011, Mrs Garner was told by the GTCS she would be removed from the teaching register, as they concluded she "simply could not teach".

However, after winning an appeal at the Court of Session in Edinburgh Mrs Garner was never officially struck off.

Mrs Garner, ­representing herself, denies all the charges. She questioned Mr Rycroft's attempts to help her, claiming he and another teacher had not followed school policy when taking action against misbehaving pupils.

She also claimed Mr Rycroft and the senior management team at Alva Academy failed to follow up on pupils who had received referrals for misbehaving.

Mrs Garner also questioned Mr Rycroft's claim he did not know of her class attainment records after 2005, as he was no longer responsible for the department.

The hearing continues.