BAD TEACHERSBy ANDRE BAGOO Saturday, January 28 2012
REPORTS of teachers engaging in misconduct are on the increase, according to statistics disclosed by the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) which show a substantial jump in cases involving school teachers on criminal charges.
Amid the increases, Chief Justice Ivor Archie has begun to look at ways to possibly expedite criminal proceedings involving teachers, upon a special request made by the TSC last year. The TSC has also written Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard SC on the issue.
TSC sources yesterday disclosed to Newsday that for 2011, the number of teachers against whom there were complaints and who have been charged in criminal proceedings was 12. This included eight cases of indecent assault; two cases involving drugs; one case of perverting the course of public justice and another case of uttering a forged document.
In contrast, according to the TSC annual report for 2010, the number of court charges involving alleged teacher misbehaviour was eight, meaning there was an almost one third increase in the space of a year.
TSC sources also said the number of disciplinary matters involving teacher abandonment in 2011 was 26, an increase over 2010’s 24. Of the cases in 2011, ten are being processed at the TSC, five were completed and 11 remain pending as more information is needed from the Ministry of Education.
According to TSC officials yesterday, for the year 2011 there were 70 cases of reports of teacher misconduct reaching the TSC. This compares with 50 in 2010, representing an overall increase of about 40 percent.
For 2011 there were 21 allegations of misconduct. Eleven matters were before disciplinary tribunals. There were also three cases which were ongoing at the High Court level throughout 2011.
Members of the TSC appeared before a Parliament Joint Select Committee (JSC) yesterday.
As she appeared before the committee, TSC chairman Hyacinth Guy also complained that tardiness and absenteeism are increasingly problems within the teaching profession, in the view of the TSC.
“We have high levels of late-coming and absenteeism of teachers, in some cases even from teachers leading a school,” she said. In its 2010 report, the TSC also noted there is a need, “to address issues of unpunctuality and irregularity in the Teaching Service.”
Of the special request made by the TSC to the Chief Justice, TSC Executive Director of Human Resource Management Yvette Phillip, said the Chief Justice has given a positive response to the TSC’s request. “We got a response from the Chief Justice, not the DPP,” she said.
The disclosures came after a string of incidents involving teacher misconduct.
Last week, it was reported in Newsday that a teacher at Blackman’s Private School in Maraval placed the head of an eight-year-old school boy in a toilet and flushed. The incident triggered a police investigation, a probe by the Ministry of Education and an investigation by the Ministry of Gender Affairs and Child Development. The teacher in question issued a statement on the incident yesterday defending her misconduct, four days after it took place.
Last October, a Mathematics teacher at the Bishops Anstey High School was forced to resign after he posted photos of himself half-naked on Facebook and after allegedly sending inappropriate emails to students.
While levels of teacher misconduct are on the increase, Guy yesterday confirmed that the degree of scrutiny over applicants who want to be teachers remains lax. The process does not include basic background checks such as a police record of good character, a requirement in many countries around the world which ensures that information about any charges or convictions a person has is disclosed.
Asked by JSC committee member, National Security Minister John Sandy, if teachers are screened for drug and alcohol abuse, child-abuse histories or other problems, Guy said, “At this time the answer is ‘no’.”
She continued, “somebody can just come into the primary school system as an assistant teacher. The candidate can be interviewed as to their academic qualifications and can then be placed.”
Guy noted there are rules in place for boards at denominational schools (part funded by the state) to object to candidates on “religious or moral grounds”. But these objections are understood to relate mainly to religious tenets and do not normally involved detailed background checks being done by denominational school-boards.
Guy said the TSC has asked the Ministry of Education to consider making police certificates of good character mandatory from this year for persons who would like to become teachers or who are to be interviewed.
Speaking with reporters after yesterday’s committee appearance, Guy said, “no certificate of good character is required at this point. I could not say for sure if they even have drug testing. The candidate’s medical is done way into the temporary appointment (after they have already been placed in a school). There are no checks in that regard. None whatsoever.”
She suggested, “At least the police could let us know if a person is wanted in a particular district. Perhaps there should be psychometric testing. I mean, are we taking in ‘psychos’ in schools? What are the personalities? People come to an interview, yes, but look at what is happening: people are exposing themselves and so on. Some checks would not be 100 percent effective but if we could get 85 percent that would be enough.”
