The number of complaints made against teachers with the profession’s regulatory body here last year increased by 35 per cent to 58.
That is according to the annual report of the Teaching Council which also records that three teachers were last year removed from the Council’s teachers’ register and confirmed by the High Court following ‘Fitness to Teach’ inquiries.
In total, allegations were proven against five teachers in 'Fitness to Teach' inquiries and the sanctions in the remaining two cases were ‘admonishment’ and ‘censure’.
In all nine Fitness to Teach inquiries were held and in the outcome of two other inquiries, two complaints were dismissed at a preliminary stage while no findings were made in a further two cases.
The 58 complaints lodged with the Teaching Council in the 12 months to the end of March last year compare to 43 complaints lodged in the prior 12 months.
More than one category of complaint can be attached to any of the 58 individual complaints and the report discloses that 45 complaints concerned conduct/behaviour including physical abuse/assault, verbal assault and sexual/intimate contact with a student.
The 45 complaints also came under the heading of inappropriate personal relationship with a student (non-sexual), inappropriate communications of a sexual and non-sexual nature, bullying, discriminatory behaviour and inappropriate social media usage.
A further six complaints were made concerning competence/performance/practice while another two complaints were made in relation to alleged criminal convictions.
A further seven complains were received under the heading of dishonesty/professional integrity while 54 complaints concerned an alleged Breach of Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers.
A further 15 complaints were received relating to special educational needs.
Twenty five complaints were made against primary school teachers and 27 against post primary teachers.
The report shows that the parents were the source of 39 of the 58 complaints with a further 13 coming via the Executive Committee of the Teaching Council where the complaint had come to the attention of Council via the media for example.
In three other cases, a colleague or other professional was the source of the complaint with a principal lodging a complaint in one other case.
A total of 10 complaints were referred for inquiry during the year.
Ten of the 58 complaints last year were refused by the Director last year as they were “deemed frivolous, vexatious, or made in bad faith” and a further 20 were refused by the Council's Investigating Committee as school procedures were ongoing or the complaint did not Fitness to Teach criteria.
The Investigating Committee is a screening committee that considers and investigates complaints received about registered teachers.
The annual report record that there were 7,755 new registrants to the register last year with a total of 122,743 on the register at the end of March last which compares to 118,432 on the register at the end of March 2023.
The report shows that of the 122,743 registered teachers, 55,417 were primary, 50,066 were post primary, 18,574 were in ‘further education’ with 3,569 student teachers and 1,980 under the heading of ‘other’.
The Teaching Council’s income last year increased from €8.12 million to €8.54 million made up of registration and assessment fees in line with the increase of teachers on the register.
The Council’s professional standard costs of €991,135 were mainly made up of legal costs of €890,664.
The report states that the Teaching Council’s expenditure last year totalled €9.67 million - an increase of €1.11 million.
The report states that “this was driven by higher staff costs along with increased legal, research, and maintenance expenditure”.
The report states that “a net cash outflow of €361,000 in the year, combined with a projected deficit for 2024, will necessitate the Council liquidating a portion of its financial assets in the near future in order to meet its liabilities as they fall due. This situation was envisaged as part of the overall financial planning of the Council”.
Staff costs year totalled €5.22 million and numbers employed increased from 62.5 to 65.5.
