Four Tasmanian schools raised concerns about a relief teacher's conduct with students - most recently in 2020 - without any red flags appearing with the Education Department, allowing the teacher to continue to move between schools.
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The Teachers Registration Board also conceded it was "almost impossible" for it to know where relief teachers are, and for how long, and that problems with information sharing between government agencies was hampering its ability to investigate teachers of concern.
The evidence was provided at a Commission of Inquiry hearing in Hobart last week, during which counsel assisting the inquiry, Elizabeth Bennett SC, tried to find out how a relief teacher could continue to move between public schools despite conduct concerns.
Education Department secretary Tim Bullard said the way in which the matter did not prompt further investigation was "very concerning", and agreed that such complaints are handled in an "ad hoc" manner.
Evidence was also given about how federal laws could allow teachers to move to Tasmania from interstate and be automatically registered without the Teachers Registration Board being alerted to prior disciplinary matters.
Behaviour of 'Brad' escalated from school to school
A school raised concerns about the relief teacher - given the pseudonym 'Brad' - in 2018 due to him insulting a child with autism, using derogatory language regarding Aboriginal people and passing naked dolls around in a classroom.
In 2019, the principal of another school also became concerned when Brad was alleged to have stared at female students for long periods of time, be in their personal space and put his hands on their shoulders. This principal contacted a previous teacher.
Brad was moved to another school, where he was reported to have become "overly familiar" with female students on a trip, and called one girl "beautiful".
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In 2020, a staff member at a fourth school raised concerns about Brad physically touching students, while a student said he had tapped her on the backside and also told her she was "beautiful".
These concerns were raised with learning services, but they were unaware if they had the ability to remove the teacher from the register. While he remained on the register, he could be employed by any public school.
Ms Bennett asked Mr Bullard how learning services did not know they could remove him from the pool of relief teachers.
"I can't explain that. But it is of concern to me," he said.
Individual reports were made at the schools, but none of it triggered a red flag on any system in the department to pick up patterns of behaviour.
Mr Bullard said that, in 2020, no such system existed.
A mishmash of laws and regulatory bodies
Tasmania, like all states, has an array of agencies overseeing the education system: the Teachers Registration Board, Working with Vulnerable People and the Education Department itself.
This is on top of other bodies that oversee the public service in different ways: the Integrity Commission, Ombudsman and Children's Commissioner, as well as Tasmania Police.
How could it be that, in 2020, such ongoing concerns about a teacher's conduct could not prompt any notification at all? And could it happen again?
Mr Bullard pointed to the Personal Information Privacy Act as having a general prohibition on the use of personal information. Unless Brad's matter was subject to an ED5 investigation - one that investigates if he had breached the state service code of conduct - then there were limitations on what information could be shared.
It was not the first time this law had been cited as a barrier for information sharing in Tasmania, including teacher abuse victims not being made aware of the outcome of their complaints.
Only "some information" could be shared under the Teachers Registration Board Act and the Registration to Work With Vulnerable Children Act, depending on the nature of the complaint.
What results is a situation where each body is unaware how it can share information.
In the case of Brad, none of the information reached the bodies.
Mr Bullard agreed that it needed to be streamlined and simplified.
"I think you can see on this matter that there would have been different opportunities had information been shared to ascertain a pattern of behaviour that would have been of concern, that would have allowed regulators to act more quickly," he said.
The department is developing a case management system due, in part, to the failures picked up during the Commission of Inquiry. Mr Bullard said it would allow schools to enter information of concern.
The full implementation of the system is expected to take three years.
Teachers Registration Board maintains concerns
Tasmania Teachers Registration Board registrar Ann Moxham highlighted the wide range of barriers they encounter in trying to get information - or being routinely provided information - that could be placing children at risk.
She said current laws meant they could not definitively say where a teacher was teaching at any particular moment in time. Teachers are not required to keep them updated.
The TRB provides information to the Justice Department for RWVP, but does not get information in return.
They are only alerted if action is being taken over a person's RWVP - but even they they're not told why.
The TRB does not get information from the 'Strong Families Safe Kids' advice and referral line either - the frontline in child abuse reporting.
They also do not receive information from child and family services.
Ms Moxham said they only get a updates from Tasmania Police once a month. This means it could take up to 29 days for a police report regarding a teacher involved in an incident to reach the TRB.
She said this system involved "a lot of luck" regarding the date when the incident occurred.
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Another issue involved the upcoming automatic registration of teachers when they arrive in Tasmania from interstate or New Zealand under the federal Mutual Recognition Act. At the moment the TRB must get all information within 30 days in order to reject a teacher, otherwise they're in.
If it becomes automatic, Ms Moxham said it would mean the only remaining protection was RWVP.
"So we won't be able to carry out our good character and fitness to teach test, which is broader, much broader, than the RWVP," she said.
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