Teachers' careers in the balance over 'spurious' complaints, union warns

TUI members voted to support teachers accused of “spurious complaints”.

Some teachers have been left to wait for as many as 18 months for sexual harassment investigations to conclude, with the final result seeing that the complaint was unfounded and had no case to answer.

It has left some "broken as it hangs over them" until a decision is made, Donegal secondary school teacher Ursula O'Connor told the Irish Examiner.

Members of the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) voted on Wednesday to support teachers accused of “spurious complaints” and to ensure students behind the complaints face discipline for making the complaint.

The vote instructs the union's executive to negotiate with the Department of Education and school management bodies to "insist that spurious, mischievous and/or vexatious complaints made against teachers are identified as such", so that the professional reputation of teachers affected is protected.

"If a student fabricates a spurious complaint, the school’s code of behaviour must be invoked, up to and including suspension and/or expulsion," the motion from the Donegal TUI branch said.

Quicker Investigations

TUI Assistant General Secretary Joanne Irwin told this newspaper that complaints need to be investigated but that shorter timelines are necessary.

"If the complaints are found by three bodies — the Teaching Council, Tusla and the ETB - to be vexatious, that they didn't happen, then a student really shouldn't be allowed to walk away from that without some sort of repercussions," she said.

"At the minute, it doesn't even go on a student's record when it happens, and the same student may make a complaint about another teacher. We need to protect that teacher as well."

Ms O'Connor, who is the Donegal branch chair, said that complaints that are deemed to be of a "minor sexual nature" take the longest time to resolve but still carry a "detrimental" effect on an innocent teacher. 

"This can happen in a rural setting too where it is very damaging in such a tight place for the reputations of the people involved," she said.

"We are fully behind a code of conduct for teachers but the way the system operates means that there is an extraordinary length of time to wait for your name to be cleared."

She said disputes should be resolved at the local level, when the involvement of An Garda Siochána or the child and family agency Tusla is not required. However, members agreed that their involvement has benefits, as they wield more power to access CCTV footage which can help resolve complaints.