Danger at the top of the class

Education Minister Steve Maharey has called for an urgent report after a Herald on Sunday investigation revealed teachers with drugs, violence and sexual offences in their past have been permitted to return to the classroom, with parents kept in the dark.

Since 2002, the Teachers Council - the government watchdog which registers teachers - has registered teachers who have:

* Convictions for battery of an 11-year-old;

* Convictions for importing ecstasy and supplying cannabis to minors;

* Admitted stealing school funds to spend on themselves.

* Admitted having sex with students;

* Admitted sexually abusing a minor.

But their identities remain secret as the council refuses to disclose which teachers have breached rules but been allowed to carry on teaching. It insists its processes are fair and thorough.

It is not known how many such teachers have been registered since 2002 but the Herald on Sunday has pinpointed 13 of the most shocking recent decisions out of about 20 since that time. Maharey, when shown the list, said he was "deeply concerned". Staff had repeatedly assured him that due process had been followed.

But, after reading the Herald on Sunday's list, he ordered Peter Lind, director of the council, to have a report on his desk by Tuesday.

"I've said to him that I'm deeply concerned about this, because any ordinary New Zealander would be deeply concerned about these stories... It bothers me that these are cases that mean that teachers are back in the classroom - and have been for a while. By Wednesday we'll be starting on getting a second opinion on this... At the moment I have to suspend judgment."

Some of the decisions required teachers to make their past known to principals who may hire them. But this was done on a case-by-case basis only. The principals are not permitted to pass the information on - meaning parents at the school may know nothing of the background of the person teaching their sons and daughters.

One re-registered teacher told the council that touching his 15-year-old niece had been "somewhat addictive" and admitted that he had sexually abused her over a two-year period.

Other cases included a man whom the council believed had sex with the head girl at his school and masturbated on her; a teacher who held UK convictions including battery against an 11-year-old; and a teacher who admitted playing drunken strip poker on a school ski camp - with one female student stripped back to her underwear.

One principal stole $12,700 from his school.

A male teacher viewed pornography while supervising a School Certificate exam. One woman posted ecstasy pills in a biro pen; another moved in with a student as soon as he finished school, after letting him and his friends drink alcohol at her house.

In some of these cases, council records show decisions were made "on a fine balance" or "with reservations" - but the teachers were all allowed to continue working.

It is not known how many of the 13 teachers are currently working but all now have official blessing to work as a teacher, without parents knowing their background.

John Langley, Dean of Education at Auckland University, spent three years directing the Teachers' Registration Board - the predecessor of the Teacher's Council.

He said he was astonished at the list of decisions. "I would have a real problem if someone said to me that my daughter was being taught by someone who had done some of these things. I'm sorry, but looking at this stuff - I'd be really quite seriously worried about some of these folk."

He said: "There are some offences where you just don't take any chances. I just wouldn't do it, if I was the council. All I can say is that I'm really surprised that some of these people actually had their registration renewed. I really am."

Roger Moses, principal of Wellington College, said the cases were "staggering".

"It's shocking, some of this stuff. I think there's definitely a danger - there's a question of commonsense here."

He could understand teachers being registered despite minor convictions, such as alcohol or traffic offences, but was particularly concerned about the cases involving sexual abuse or assault.

"I reckon you get one shot at that. I think if it's happened once, I'd be very, very nervous."

Dugald Scott, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Victoria University's Wellington College of Education, said the details were "shocking" and the decisions "pretty hard to justify".

He said the job of the council was to protect children, not teachers' careers, and that some of the cases listed "would make a reasonable person question the safety of their children in that person's care".

"The whole pattern just seems really bizarre... All I can say is, as someone who has been a teacher myself and who has been training teachers for years, I thought the rules were likely to be much more stringent than they appear to be.

"Simply because you're in a position of power and influence - simply because you're a teacher - it should be quite beyond the pale to exploit that unfairly with students."

Scott said the teaching profession should have standards as high as the medical profession, with crossing ethical or legal boundaries "utterly forbidden".

Bill English, National's education spokesman, said if teachers wanted to be trusted "most of these people should not be teaching".

Teachers with a confirmed history of child abuse should never be allowed in a classroom, he said - even if, like many of the teachers listed, they showed insight into their actions or had completed counselling.

"That person could be in front of my children or anyone's children... I don't think there's any excuse," he said. "The council needs to explain."

English criticised the Post Primary Teachers' Association for being "too willing to defend teachers that a true profession would not support".

Lind told the Herald on Sunday each case was thoroughly investigated and he stood by all the decisions made by council.

"You've got to take everything in its total context and you've got to say that the council goes through a very thorough hearing and investigation of each particular case and that it doesn't reach those decisions lightly."

Before renewing registrations, the council would assess the level of remorse shown by the applicant and whether there had been any repetition of the behaviour, he said.

If teachers were registered, appropriate measures were put in place to monitor their work.

In some cases, counselling and extra supervision could continue for years, he said.

Teachers could be required to disclose their convictions or breaches of ethics at every school they worked but, in other cases, there were no such requirements.

"We are responsible for ensuring a safe learning environment for children and students.

"And we are to maintain professional standards of teachers."

Debbie Te Whaiti, president of the PPTA, said the union had an obligation to provide members with advice and support.

"What we do is ensure that the process is right... It's very rigorous and it's fair, and the decisions that they come to are probably the right ones," she said.

Te Whaiti said the bottom line was the safety of the students and the PPTA had to rely on the council to act in the interest of students.

"There's no way that the Teacher's Council would be putting people back into classrooms if they hadn't fairly rigorously convinced themselves they were safe."