Teaching body slammed

The Teachers Council allowed a teacher convicted of sexual assault to continue teaching. Photo / Dean Purcell

A judge has slated the Teachers Council for "wilful blindness" for allowing a teacher to keep working despite being convicted of assaulting a 15-year-old girl.

Judge Mary-Elizabeth Sharp accused the council's disciplinary tribunal of not wanting to find against the teacher by disregarding "something with an overt sexual taint".

This is the first time a court has ordered the council to re-hear a case since its disciplinary tribunal started hearing misconduct complaints in 2005.

The teacher had pleaded guilty, been convicted and fined for the assault, but the tribunal did not impose a punishment. After the rehearing in June, the tribunal censured the teacher.

The case has been posted on the council's website, but the names and details of the teacher and girl are suppressed.

The man, then a private maths tutor, was accused of telling the girl "we are alone now" when another staff member left the room. He sat very close to her and talked about tattoos before touching the small of her back to show where she should get a tattoo. He also put his arms around her and asked what she would do if he kissed her.

The man was charged with indecent assault and the case went to court, but the charge was changed to common assault and he pleaded guilty. Judge Roy Wade fined the man $1000 and ordered him to pay $250 to the girl for counselling.

The man reported his conviction to the Teachers Council in December 2006. The case went before the tribunal in May last year. In its decision the tribunal said it "had no reason to believe the teacher had engaged in serious misconduct".

Judge Sharp said: "This shows a want to disregard something with an overt sexual taint from which the disciplinary tribunal would of necessity have had to make an adverse finding. Something that it clearly did not want to do."

Council director Peter Lind declined to comment on the case, but did confirm that the council's complaints assessment committee had appealed the original decision. "It shows that there's a system of checks and balances."

The council has been criticised since it was formed to replace the Teacher Registration Board in 2002.

First chairwoman Kathie Irwin was fired by then Education Minister Trevor Mallard in May 2002, despite being cleared of allegations of double dipping at her academic jobs. Second chairman Stan Rodger left in June after a year in the job.

That same year Mallard sent in a Ministry of Education crisis team to help the council clear 12,000 teacher registrations.