Photo: NZ HeraldTeacher misconduct cases have trebled in the past year, partly because schools and childcare centres are being forced to "cut corners" due to a desperate teacher shortage. The Ministry of Education's annual report says the number of teacher misconduct cases referred to the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal jumped from 51 in the year to June 2018 to 155 in the latest June year. The Teaching Council received 619 complaints, mandatory reports and "own-motion" referrals about misconduct in the June 2018 year, and its disciplinary tribunal found that "serious misconduct" had occurred in only 44 cases. Morris said the 2015 changes effectively "lowered the threshold" at which schools were required to report cases of possible misconduct to the Teaching Council. However Reynolds said the Teaching Council was right to take all misconduct cases seriously.

Source: Otago Daily Times October 27, 2019 02:48 UTC