One in seven teachers at private schools not registered

Published on Saturday 4 July 2009 19:54

HUNDREDS of teachers in the private sector are not registered, denying regulators the chance to scrutinise their work, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.

Scotland's teaching regulator, the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), has called for a change in the law after it emerged only 86 per cent of private school teachers are registered. Nearly one in seven teachers are unregistered.

And parents, who pay an average of 8,000 a year for secondary fees, expressed concern, describing the situation as "bizarre".

In the last census of the profession by the Scottish Government, published in April, there were 3,428 teachers in the independent sector, meaning around 480 are not on the register.

Independent school leaders said they did not object to the move to include them in the 1980 Education Act which, currently, only legally obliges state school teachers to be registered.

The same law also demands that only state school teachers have a recognised teaching qualification, meaning that unlike other professions such as medicine or law, those in the private sector can operate while unqualified and unregistered.

Not being registered means the GTCS's power to suspend or ban a teacher for reasons varying from having a criminal record to abusing children or being incompetent cannot be used.

Stewart Coulter, a grandparent from Glasgow who used to teach in independent schools, said he was alarmed at the situation.

He said: "Lawyers and doctors can be struck off but not all teachers, because it seems teaching is one of the few professions where you don't have to be registered, which seems bizarre.

"It's quite disgraceful. As a grandparent I'm worried that there are people in classrooms who don't necessarily have a professional teaching qualification, and also who are not registered or recognised by the professional body, the GTCS."

The GTCS believes it should have the power to ensure independent school teachers are of the same standards as those in state schools.

A report by the regulator to the Scottish Government on its future says considerable progress has been made in increasing the number of private school teachers on the register.

But it adds: "However, recent experience has show that there is a significant loophole in those cases where a non- registered teacher in the independent sector is found to be incompetent or to have behaved unprofessionally."

It concludes: "The introduction of a requirement for registration in independent schools, in line with an agreed protocol, would be both logical and helpful."

Tony Finn, GTCS chief executive, said: "The GTC Scotland is in regular contact with the SCIS (Scottish Council of Independent Schools], and has been for some years, to promote registration as the appropriate quality standard for the employment of teachers in the independent sector.

"Registration is important for maintaining standards in the classroom and the vast majority of teachers in the independent sector already recognise this."

Currently the GTCS has the power to summon registered teachers to a disciplinary panel which can suspend them or even strike them off the register – an effective ban from any state classroom in the UK.

The SCIS and the GTCS met with the government on Wednesday in high-levels talks to discuss the issue.

Judith Sischy, director of the SCIS, said she did not object to the GTCS call for expansion of the 1980 education act to include the private sector.

However, she pointed out that some of those who are not registered may be professional musicians or sports experts who are not teachers but are drafted in to teach children in a specialist area.

She said: "It certainly doesn't mean there was any dilution in standards. At least 86 per cent of teachers are registered in the independent sector and we have reason to believe it's much higher than that.

"And that figure has increased hugely over the past ten years because we have been encouraging it.

"The reason some of them may not be is because they haven't done a recognised teacher-training course but it won't mean they are unqualified in the subject they are teaching or that they are unvetted for child protection issues."

Sischy admitted the anomaly does mean that people not allowed to teach in the state sector could work in a private school.

But she added: "People from professions such as accountancy and divinity or sport who have decided they want now to spend their lives teaching children may not have had the opportunity to do a teaching training course, but may have all sorts of qualifications in their field."

And she pointed out that independent schools and their teachers are still subject to HM Inspectorate of Education inspections.

She said: "We have not opposed statutory registration – we are already moving towards full voluntary registration, which I think everyone would prefer."

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "We fully support the work of the GTCS, along with the Scottish Council for Independent Schools, to further increase levels of registration but have no plans to make this a legislative requirement at this time."

GLASGOW CASE

Last month, two senior members of staff at Glasgow Academy, a private school, were accused by parents of traumatising a ten-year-old pupil in a two-hour interview over drug allegations.

The school's headmaster, Peter Brodie, is facing a hearing for misconduct in front of the General Teaching Council of Scotland later this year as he is a registered teacher.

However, the head of the academy's prep school, Tony Brook, is unregistered and so will not have to go through the same disciplinary process.

The case highlights the different conditions under which registered and unregistered teachers operate.

The GTCS has the power to remove Brodie from the teaching register. Glasgow Academy last week confirmed that Brook is not on the GTCS register.

A spokesperson said the senior teacher had been employed 18 months ago from a previous position in England, where registration is also voluntary, but is planning to register.

The parents of the boy are planning to sue the school for damages, but 9,000-a-year Glasgow Academy, founded in 1845, has said it believes the allegation against Brodie was unfounded.

Its statement said: "The governors believe that, when the full facts are disclosed to the GTCS, it will be seen that the school acted properly."