Alarm bells over criminal teachers

Fifteen people with criminal convictions have applied to become registered teachers this year – nine of them successfully.

Four others with convictions seeking entry into the classroom had their applications declined, while two decisions are pending. This follows the Teachers Council allowing four people with convictions to register as teachers working in schools last year, while seven were declined registration.

Information on the type of convictions was not available but school principals are worried that people with records for violent and drug offences are being accepted by teacher training providers, and they want a blanket ban on criminals getting into the profession.

Secondary Principals' Association president Patrick Walsh said he was shocked some providers accepted people with convictions for violence or drug-supply. Those people were then sent into schools as part of their teacher training.

"Principals have been surprised at some of the people sent to them. I know of people accepted into training who have had serious drug use and supply convictions, domestic violence and assault records.

"Members of the public would be shocked about the sorts of people with criminal convictions that some teacher education providers allow to enrol. I can't say names because I'd be breaching confidentiality," he said. Currently providers must do a police check, but can accept who they want. They are not covered by criteria set out by the Teachers Council, which registers and monitors all teachers.

Walsh said the lack of guidelines covering training providers made it possible for people with serious convictions to train and work at schools as part of practicums, which are a compulsory part of teacher training. It also raised the issue of wasting taxpayer money on training people who might never be registered as teachers, and depriving someone else of a spot.

All teachers must self-report to the council if they are convicted of a charge punishable by three months' jail or more, but council director Peter Lind said that could include a charge of careless driving, and he questioned whether that made a person unfit to be a teacher.

"There are some circumstances where the person has clearly turned their life around, having made a silly mistake when they were young. These people may be accepted into a teaching programme on the proviso the conviction wasn't recent, severe, or the person didn't show a pattern of reoffending."

It was up to providers to decide whether a person with a criminal conviction was accepted, taking into account the severity of the crime, its timing, the person's age at the time of the offence and any pattern of offending, Lind said.

Meanwhile, the government is looking at raising the bar people face in becoming a teacher. A document on the subject closes this Friday and a report will be prepared by Education Minister Anne Tolley for Cabinet.

Tolley told the Sunday Star-Times teacher training was the single biggest issue raised with her. The government wanted to raise the status and professionalism of teaching in New Zealand.

The document, "A Vision for the Teaching Profession" by a minister-appointed working party, suggests teachers must achieve a postgraduate degree, then complete a masters part-time in their first year of teaching. Currently, students can become qualified teachers after completing a three-year education degree, or a degree followed by a one-year education teaching diploma.

- © Fairfax NZ News