Teacher Council report a 22% drop in complaints against teachers 

Since the Teaching Council began fitness-to-practice hearings in 2016, only one teacher has been removed from the register.

The number of complaints made about teachers to the profession’s regulatory body decreased by 22% in its second full year of operating fitness-to-practice inquiries.

A total of 39 complaints were made to the Teaching Council in the 12 months to the end of March 2019 —  down from 50 for the corresponding previous 12-month period.

While most complaints related to individual teachers, two complaints were against two teachers.

The figures contained in the latest annual report of the Teaching Council, which covers 2018/19, show parents were the source of just over half of all complaints with eight made by the Teaching Council after it became aware of issues and 10 from other parties.

No complaints were made by school management authorities.

Of the 39 complaints, 26 were made against primary teachers, 11 against post-primary teachers and two about teachers in the further education sector. The Teaching Council has statutory powers to examine complaints of professional misconduct, poor performance, being medically unfit to teach and breaches of the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers.

It can also inquire into complaints of court convictions against teachers and false information provided in their registration details.

Three-quarters of complaints in 2018/19 related to the conduct and behaviour of teachers, while a quarter raised issues over their competence or performance.

Three complaints related to criminal offences committed by teachers among other concerns.

The Teaching Council said its investigating committee decided it could not consider 19 complaints for a number of reasons, including that the alleged conduct had occurred prior to July 25, 2016, when it obtained the legal powers to investigate teachers. Other reasons were because schools had not yet completed their own investigations into the matter or the complaints did not relate to a teacher’s ability to teach.

The investigating committee also decided not to refer four further complaints to its disciplinary committee.

The report noted that the Teaching Council’s executive committee obtained a High Court order to have the registration of one teacher suspended in the 2018/19 period.

Two complaints merited a hearing before a fitness-to-practice inquiry.

Since the Teaching Council began fitness-to-practice hearings in 2016, only one teacher has been removed from the register.

The unnamed teacher was found guilty of professional misconduct over an incident in which Sellotape was placed across the mouths of a number of fifth-class students at an unidentified primary school.

The chairperson of the Teaching Council, Noelle Moran, has called on the Department of Education to bring into force regulations under Section 37 of the Teaching Council Acts which would oblige employers to notify the council when a teacher is dismissed or has resigned following a complaint or disciplinary process at school level.

“Section 37 regulations have an important role to play with respect to child protection and when in place will also greatly enhance the council’s ability to promote the highest standards of teaching,” Ms Moran said.

The Teaching Council said there was also a critical need for the Department of Education to implement Section 28 of the Education Act which would ensure that complaints which were capable of being resolved at local level were provided with a statutory framework and procedures.

Ms Moran said a formalised complaints structure at school level would prevent the need for complainants to have recourse to the council’s fitness to teach procedures.

The Teaching Council recommends that all complaints or grievances should first be notified to the teacher’s schools before they are brought to the council, except where a child or vulnerable person is at risk when the issue should be brought to the attention of gardaí and Tusla.