Dodgy teachers will be named and shamed after a parliamentary select committee prompted the Teachers Council to review suppression rules.
The decision to review the rules around disciplinary tribunal meetings and how they are reported was made at a Teachers Council meeting yesterday.
Director Peter Lind said there would still be some case-by-case sensitivity around keeping some decisions private.
At present, the disciplinary tribunal writes a decision that is published on the Teachers Council website in an anonymous form. That would be reviewed, and also made public, Dr Lind said.
A review of the Teachers Council was launched in 2010, taking into account 177 submissions, interviewing individuals and groups from the education sector, considering New Zealand and international research, and looking at similar professional bodies in the health, legal and engineering sectors.
A report was produced with 24 recommendations and four key themes: a new professional body, the regulatory framework for teachers, the disciplinary framework, and resourcing to support the council.
The Teachers Council's automatic name suppression of any school staff subject to complaints was criticised by MPs and considered to fall outside the Education Act's intentions. As part of the review, the Education Act would also be tightened.
Dr Lind said the review of the Teachers Council was before the minister and awaiting a Cabinet decision. In the meantime, the council, which is legally able to change its own rules, would go ahead with the review, allowing for greater transparency and openness.
This is, as we said above, long overdue. Just because a person is employed as a teacher, they ought not automatically escape public attention if they fall foul of the profession's disciplinary standards.
We say that for two reasons; firstly, parents need to have confidence in the teachers to whom they entrust their children. Secondly, the non-publication of the names of teachers who fall foul of disciplinary standards in unfair on the vast majority of teachers who DO meet professional standards, but whose reputations are tarnished by implication.
We could never be a teacher (we lack the necessary patience), but we admire those who can and who educate our children. With a little prompting from a parliamentary select committee, the Teachers Council has made a very good decision.
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