Disciplinary Tribunal: Teacher denies doing his students’ work, claims he only ‘helped’

A teacher accused of falsifying aspects of students' work says he didn't break any rules. Photo / 123rf

A technology teacher accused of doing his students’ work for them and then marking it as passed claims he only ever “helped” his students.

The North Island teacher, whose name and the school and area at which he worked are suppressed, is before the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal charged with serious misconduct.

It’s alleged that while teaching students the skills required to complete an NCEA conceptual design assessment, he passed off his written notes and sketches on the assessments as the students’ work.

None of the assessments completed met the minimum standard required for a pass mark, but the teacher gave all students achieved or merit grades. It’s alleged 80 per cent of the assessments were identical, while students traced parts of the assessment from an exemplar on the wall.

On Wednesday, the tribunal heard from staff at the school, including the Head of Technology who initially raised concerns about the assessments when she was moderating the teacher’s marking.

The man, who is no longer teaching, took the stand today. Much of his evidence cannot be reported due to suppression orders.

The teacher said he had around 23 years of teaching experience, which extended to overseas. Only a limited number of his years in the industry involved teaching NCEA-level high school students in New Zealand.

He began his evidence by saying he believed his students’ work met the appropriate standard, informed by the NZQA standard.

When it came to evidence about the assessments being identical, he said some students copied from each other, although he did not believe the assessments were as similar as claimed.

“That is beyond me, I can’t believe that,” he told the tribunal.

It had also been claimed his handwriting was found on some of the students’ assessments, described by another teacher as “content” rather than “comments”. The teacher said he has no recollection of writing on the students’ assessments.

When it came to the alleged comment from one student that his teacher drew an entire sketch as part of his assessment, the teacher denied this.

“I didn’t falsify it - I helped students,” he said. “I was proud of the work we did.”

An issue repeatedly raised by both the defence and tribunal members surrounded a substantial amount of missing evidence.

In a hearing of this nature, the assessments themselves would typically be lodged as evidence.

But both the school’s principal and its head of technology gave evidence that the closet where the assessments were stored was inadvertently emptied by the school’s caretaker. The principal said a shipment of canned goods from a food charity arrived and the caretaker needed somewhere to store it.

The teacher says that when he passed over the assessments to his superior for marking moderation, he never saw them again.

The teacher also spoke on why he should be granted permanent name suppression. He said he was suffering from high blood pressure that could be agitated by stress, as well as potential embarrassment for his wife, who also teaches.

A representative from the school’s board of trustees spoke on why they believed suppression should continue for the school, saying the proceedings had the potential to lower the standing of the school among the public.

The tribunal will deliberate over the coming days.

Ethan Griffiths covers crime and justice stories nationwide for Open Justice. He joined NZME in 2020, previously working as a regional reporter in Whanganui and South Taranaki.