Long-awaited hearings into complaints about serious misconduct and underperformance by teachers look set to take place later this year.

The last remaining legal obstacle in the way of hearings taking place was removed last Friday when Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan commenced new vetting requirements for teachers.

Under the new legislation, the Teaching Council will have the power to remove a teacher from its register where it deems the person unfit to teach, including where this is for child-protection reasons.

The council will also be charged with investigating underperformance or conduct issues on foot of complaints from students, parents and teachers, among others.

Suspended

Only issues “of sufficient gravity” will result in an inquiry. Those against whom decisions are made may be suspended from the register or receive a sanction of “advice, admonishment or censure”.

The fitness-to-teach hearings, which have been promised for well over a decade, will be held in public by default.

However, a witness or teacher who is the subject of the complaint may apply to have some or all of the hearing heard in private.

Ms O’Sullivan said that a separate legal order providing for the commencement of fitness-to-teach provisions is expected to be come into force at the end of the current school year on June 29th.

The council, which will be responsible for operating the hearings, has been planning for the commencement of the provisions and is expected to launch a major public awareness campaign.

Council director Tomás Ó Ruairc welcomed the Minister’s announcement.

“The council will ensure that the process will be fair and balanced for all involved. We will release further information closer to the time of the commencement.”

While legal provisions paving the way for fitness-to-practise hearings have yet to commence, the council has already received complaints about individual teachers.

Initiating inquiries

The Teaching Council will have the authority to deal with any very serious complaints retrospectively by initiating its own inquiries.

The council – two-thirds of which is made up of teachers and their union representatives – had previously proposed that a subcommittee would be charged with deciding on a case-by-case basis whether the long-awaited hearings would be held in public or private.

However, Ms O’Sullivan overruled this last year, citing the standard practice of public hearings in the medical and legal professions.

She said that exceptions would be made where necessary “to protect the rights of individuals”.

“This will ensure that the new fitness to teach framework will mirror best practice as regards disciplinary hearings for other professional bodies,” she said.

While teachers in other jurisdictions have long had a system of public hearings by default, the council argued that public hearings should only take place here when there was agreement on the matter from all parties to an inquiry.