Schools—New Zealand Teachers Council

Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this

As the member knows, I am deeply concerned by these reports and I met with the Teachers Council this morning. I hope that parents will understand that the Teachers Council itself is at pains to point out that as a professional body there is no way that it would return anyone to the classroom who should not be there; it monitors closely any decisions that it makes; and, as a professional body, its members are the people to oversee this practice. As a Minister I am not able to interfere with those decisions and they cannot, of course, be changed by the council once made. But parents should take reassurance from the fact that the chairperson of the council has today, yet again, reiterated the robustness of the current arrangements.

Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this

Under the National Government in the 1990s the registration of teachers was voluntary until 1997. Although registration became mandatory in 1997, there was no professional body for teachers and no requirement for police vetting of teachers before they were employed in schools. When Labour took office in 1999 we immediately began to work on establishing professional standards for all teachers. Changes to the Education Act in 2001 required police vetting for all personnel in schools and early childhood centres. The Act also established the Teachers Council, which is the professional body of teachers. The body includes professional teachers, principals, leading educational professionals, and, of course, parents. It includes two independent disciplinary bodies: a complaints committee, and a disciplinary tribunal with powers either to deregister teachers or impose conditions on their ongoing registration. In 2004 new rules came into effect enabling the council to consider complaints of serious misconduct at any time rather than waiting until the expiry of the current registration. I believe that the arrangements now in place can give us confidence in the professionalism of the Teachers Council.

Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this

The report I received was, of course, the verbal report of the Teachers Council and its chief executive. As I have said, I have invited them to consider whether any further improvements can be made to what, as I have outlined, are now quite robust arrangements. If they do that, I am more than happy to make them available.

Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this

Yes to the first question, and of course, not to the second. That is why the Labour Government in 1999 changed the impossibly loose approach that was taken by Mr English’s Government in the 1990s when basically anybody could have been in the classroom at any time. I have said today that the improvements over the last 7 years have left us in a position where the Teachers Council is able to give us reassurance that it is a professional body overseeing a proper and robust process. I have also said that I have invited that council to report to me as quickly as it possibly can on any further improvements I can take, because, of course— I say to Mr English—it is offensive to suggest anything else. I take it absolutely as my role to ensure that young people are in a safe environment when they learn, as do the Teachers Council, the Post Primary Teachers Association, the New Zealand Educational Institute, and Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource.

Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this

I welcome the member’s concern. I understand that he is a parent and has children in class at the present time and therefore, like all parents, he will want to be reassured in this matter. As I said to Mr Donnelly in answer to his question, when the Teachers Council prepares its report with recommendations of where we might or might not go further in this matter, I am more than happy to make that available. But right now I say to that member that, unlike the time when he was in Government, we have moved hugely in the last 6 years to ensure that we have a proper environment where registered teachers are properly registered. He might like to contemplate why he did not do that himself for the children of the 1990s.

Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this

Of course, this does not reflect on the 80,000 teachers who are currently in our workforce from early childhood centres through to secondary schools. As to what we are doing about raising performance, as I said, the member might like to contemplate the vacant space that existed in the 1990s under his Government and compare it with what we are doing today, which is lifting the professional standards by the invention of a Teachers Council that is writing professional standards and overseeing the development of a professional body. This is unlike himself, when he left children in the classroom in the 1990s without these protections.

Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this

Further to the inquiry about the history of this matter, it was one of the major points made by many people in the 1990s that the National Government protected animals but did not protect children. The Labour Government protects children.

Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this

Once again, a good question from someone who is a parent as well as a politician in the House. As he knows, under the Privacy Act, I personally cannot reveal the individual circumstances behind each of the cases that are on the website. However, as I explained to the member earlier—