100-plus grievances filed against teachers
More than 100 complaints about teachers have been lodged with the profession’s regulatory body.
Such grievances are being escalated to the highest level due to a lack of a formal procedure in schools, according to the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI).
The Teaching Council received 102 complaints about registered teachers over a two-year period, the majority of which were made by parents, figures released to the Irish Examiner show.
A teacher’s behaviour or conduct was the most common reason for complaints received by the Teaching Council.
This behaviour includes allegations of verbal or physical assault, bullying, sexual or intimate contact with a student, and inappropriate social media use.
The behaviour also includes complaints about inappropriate, non-sexual personal relationships between teachers and students, as well as inappropriate communications between teachers and students.
Complaints also related to competence, potential dishonesty, medical concerns, breaches of professional conduct, and criminal convictions. More than a third of complaints were not investigated by the regulatory body and were rejected because they did not meet the requirements of the Teaching Council Act.
In these cases, complaints did not proceed any further, because school-based procedures had not yet finished before the complaint was lodged, or because the nature of the complaint did not relate to a teacher’s fitness to teach.
Complaints were also rejected because the Teaching Council believed it did not have jurisdiction to investigate.
In 2016, the Teaching Council was granted the powers to investigate complaints about teachers and to hold inquiries.
Complaints received are screened first by an investigating committee, before proceeding on to an investigation and/or a referral to a disciplinary committee for an inquiry. Following an initial investigation, almost 10% of the complaints lodged with the Teaching Council were not referred to its disciplinary committee.
ASTI is calling for an agreed, statute-based procedure for dealing with complaints from parents at a local level, before involving the Teaching Council.
“Such procedures exist for dealing with disciplinary matters and the Teaching Council does not get involved until these procedures are exhausted,” said ASTI deputy general secretary Diarmuid de Paor.
The failure to implement Section 28 of the Education Act 1998, which provides for dealing with parents’ complaints in schools, is a matter of concern to the ASTI, Mr de Paor added.
Out of the 52 complaints received since March 2018, 17 are still under consideration by the Teaching Council’s investigating committee.
