Teachers Registration Board to introduce a code of conduct for all SA educators

For the first time, SA’s 36,000 teachers will be subjected to a code of conduct governing the way they interact with students and parents. Here’s how it will work - and why it’s needed.

A code of conduct will be introduced for South Australia’s 36,000 teachers in a further crackdown against inappropriate behaviour.

The Teachers Registration Board (TRB) is using new powers to develop the code, which will be modelled on similar ones already operating in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT.

More than 80 SA teachers have appeared before the board for formal hearings over the past 10 years, many involving sexual misconduct which led to their imprisonment.

Other cases have included a teacher jailed for murder, a young Lutheran teacher who participated in an exorcism of a student and a female teacher who hid an escaped prisoner for 10 days during a manhunt in the Northern Territory.

The interstate codes prohibit sexual relationships between teachers and students involving inappropriate behaviour, physical contact, speech, communication, touching, grooming or voyeurism.

The also detail ethical standards expected of teachers regarding their teaching methods, professional dealings with other teachers, students and parents, the acceptance of gifts and socialising with students, including inviting them to their homes.

The new SA code of conduct would be in addition to new guidelines adopted by the TRB last year to address child safety issues, which included an overhauled mandatory reporting system.

A TRB spokeswoman said the development of the code of conduct was “part of the board’s commitment to the teaching profession in South Australia”.

“It aims to complement existing site or employer codes and to provide a resource that is useful and valued by all involved with the teaching profession,” she said.

“It is hoped that such a code will become an overarching aspirational set of parameters for the whole profession.”

Under existing guidelines, teachers and employers must notify the board if a teacher is dismissed or resigns because of allegations of unprofessional conduct, including incompetence.

From July last year, they must also notify the board when allegations of unprofessional conduct are formally made against a teacher.

The TRB has the power to order teachers to pay fines not exceeding $5000, impose conditions on their registration, suspend them for specified periods, cancel their registration or ban them permanently from teaching.

Education Minister Blair Boyer said he supported the introduction of a code of conduct for teachers.

“It is an aspirational professional code across all education sectors which will complement the board’s existing code of ethics that is based on respect, responsibility and integrity,” he said.

“It will give the board an additional tool to support teachers, address very rare cases of unprofessional conduct, and strengthen the teaching profession.”

Disgraced SA teachers Renee Underwood, Christopher Stain, Timothy Sexton and Dylan McCrossin were all given prison sentences for child sex offending. The first three were convicted of abusing children while McCrossin downloaded vile child exploitation material.

Mr Boyer said it was important the code reflected “the standards we expect of those in the profession but also acknowledges the challenges our workforce currently faces”.

“As a community, we expect a lot of teachers and the job they have has become increasingly complex over the years,” he said.

“That’s why we need to make sure there are support mechanisms in place that support our workforce to deal with those complexities.”

Mr Boyer said he also was working with the board to improve transparency over teachers who appeared before formal hearings.

“We must ensure it’s appropriate to do so as there are sometimes legal and police procedural considerations that must be adhered to,” he said.

Independent Education Union state secretary Glen Seidel said non-government schools already had their own codes of conduct.

“This is problematic for teachers if they are going to be judged against a raft of documents with differing structures, purposes and examples – it will be a minefield,” he said.

Australian Education Union SA president Andrew Gohl also questioned whether a code of conduct was necessary, saying education already was one of the most heavily regulated professions.

“The TRB has significant powers regarding registration of teachers and the circumstances under which a teacher may be deregistered,” he said.

“These powers already span the full gamut of circumstances when a teacher might be disciplined or face deregistration.”

Opposition education spokesman John Gardner said the code had been in development since the Marshall government’s “extensive reform” to the TRB Act in late 2020.

“The vast majority of SA’s teachers dedicate their entire lives to their calling and will never fall short of such a code of conduct,” he said.

“This new mechanism will assist the TRB to take action against that very small minority who do the wrong thing.”