Memorandum submitted by the Teacher Support
Network
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
— Whilst allegations of improper conduct
against school staff appear to be becoming more frequent, very
few of these allegations are eventually proven to be true. Nevertheless
allegations are being handled in a way that can be traumatic and
sometimes permanently disruptive to a teacher's career, irrespective
of guilt.
— All members of staff who are subject
to an allegation are automatically sentenced to a period of concern
and uncertainty which can endanger their health, wellbeing and
career as a whole. A teacher's work can be significantly disrupted
and their relationship with colleagues and pupils can be severely
strained. If the teacher returns to work, they may find it extremely
challenging to recover the trust, respect and confidence that
they previously had in the school.
— Teacher Support Network dealt with
132 calls from teachers about allegations last year alone. The
total number of individuals affected by these cases will be even
larger. Allegations have the power to be extremely destabilising
in a school and incredibly upsetting for a teacher's friends and
family.
— Every reasonable step, including
revising guidance, should be taken to ensure that allegations
do not unduly damage schools or the teacher concerned. If the
impact of the investigative process per se can be minimised, the
attraction of making false or malicious allegations may diminish.
— Teacher Support Network recommends
several changes to guidance for schools, teachers facing an allegation
and the Police. These include:
(i) informing a teacher of available emotional
support services at every stage of an investigation,
(ii) not amending personnel files and Criminal
Records Bureau (CRB) Disclosures unless guilt is clearly evidenced,
and
(iii) advising the Police how to bring minimal
disturbance, professionally and emotionally, to a school and its
staff during an investigation.
ABOUT TEACHER
SUPPORT NETWORK
1. Teacher Support Network provide practical,
emotional and financial support to teachers throughout the UK.
Our team of qualified coaches, advisers and counsellors run a
free confidential support service on the phone and online, which
is available to any training, serving or retired teacher at any
time, 365 days of the year. Previously known as the Teachers'
Benevolent Fund, we also provide financial support to teachers
in need. The last decade in our 132 year history has seen our
reach expand almost 10-fold; now serving education professionals
over 100,000 times a year.
2. In addition to these responsive services,
we also carry out a plethora of proactive work to improve the
health and wellbeing of teachers. Analysis of our service usage
gives us a clear indication of the problems that teachers currently
face. We will then run appropriate surveys and campaigns to investigate
a problem further, raise awareness and alleviate problems troubling
teachers. We have also established a sister social enterprise
company—Worklife Support—which runs the National Wellbeing
Programme; designed to improve the wellbeing of the whole school
community.
The scale and nature of allegations of improper
conduct made against school staff
3. Sources suggest that whilst allegations
of improper conduct against school staff are becoming more frequent,
very few of these allegations are eventually proven to be true.
Nevertheless, the allegations are being handled in a way that
can be traumatic and sometimes permanently disruptive to a teacher's
career, irrespective of guilt.
4. A Freedom of Information request last
year suggested that the number of allegations against school staff
were on the rise. Among the 40% of local authorities who responded
to the BBC reporter Donal McIntyre's request, the number of teachers
being suspended had risen from 168 in 2003-04 to 314 in 2007-08.
The most common reason for suspension was said to be child protection
issues, which typically related to allegations of verbal abuse,
unreasonable force against a pupil, indecent assault, and downloading
pictures of child abuse.
5. Several sources suggest that a clear
majority of improper conduct allegations are not successfully
proven. In March 2008, the NASUWT reported that out of 2,231 concluded
allegations cases among its membership, only 105 (approximately
5%) had resulted in action being brought against the teacher.
At the same time, the ATL reported that in 75% of its allegation
cases, the Crown Prosecution Service took no action against the
teacher involved because there was a lack of evidence. In the
last Allegations Audit by the Government in 2002-03, two-thirds
of investigations into allegations against education staff led
to no police prosecutions.
6. A considerable number of these unproven
allegations are said to be untrue or malicious. In a 2007 ICM/Guardian/Headspace
survey of 825 head teachers, 59% of secondary heads said that
either they or one of their staff had received a false complaint
relating to bullying, neglect or verbal or physical abuse during
the last three years. This year, the ATL reported a significant
increase in the number of allegations against staff that subsequently
turned out to be "hugely exaggerated, false or even malicious".
Despite this, all members of staff who are subject to an allegation
are automatically sentenced to a period of concern and uncertainty
which can endanger their health, wellbeing and career as a whole.
Whether staff subject to allegations should remain
anonymous while the case is investigated
7. Much more needs to be done to protect
a teacher's professional reputation and personal wellbeing when
allegations are made against them. Current procedures, where teachers
are punished irrespective of guilt, must change.
8. The initial response to an allegation
can be unnecessarily traumatic for teachers and disruptive to
schools. As the figures above suggest, hundreds of teachers can
be swiftly suspended once an allegation is made against them.
This means that, even before an allegation has been investigated,
the teacher's work is significantly disrupted and their relationship
with colleagues and pupils is severely strained. If the teacher
returns to work, they may find it extremely challenging to recover
the trust, respect and confidence that they previously had in
the school. This will damage their personal wellbeing and professional
effectiveness, perhaps irrevocably. In the process, a school without
adequate insurance will also lose financially; paying the salary
of the suspended teacher as well as those providing temporary
cover.
9. Subsequent investigations into allegations
can also damage teachers and schools alike. A teacher facing an
allegation may be formally arrested, photographed, fingerprinted
and even held in custody while police investigations take place.
Details of investigations may be disclosed in Criminal Records
Bureau (CRB) checks—affecting a teacher's job prospects—and
they may be reported to the General Teaching Council (GTC), who
will then post their name on a publicly-accessible web page for
the duration of an inquiry. Overall, this process is undeniably
traumatic for the teacher in question. Sadly, it may force them
to consider leaving the profession, even if they are entirely
innocent.
10. The anonymous Teacher Support Network
phone call case study at the end of this submission helps to describe
the extreme emotional strain that a teacher can go through if
they face an allegation. Overall, Teacher Support Network received
132 calls from teachers about allegations last year alone. This
is a worryingly large number, but the number of families and colleagues
affected by these cases will be even larger. Allegations have
the power to be extremely destabilising in a school and incredibly
upsetting for a teacher's friends and family.
11. Teacher Support Network fully understands
the importance of protecting children from abuse, but it is wrong
that any teacher should have to endure such a damaging investigative
process when a false or malicious allegation is made. It is also
wrong that a school should be deprived, temporarily or perhaps
permanently, of the talents of an innocent teacher. It is clear
that teachers should be better protected whenever an allegation
is made against them, so that their work is minimally disrupted
and their name is not tarnished. Preserving anonymity wherever
possible if the teacher wishes (except in cases of confirmed guilt)
is crucial to this, so that their work and career prospects are
not unfairly affected.
Whether the guidance available to head teachers,
school governors, police and others on how to handle claims of
improper conduct by school staff should be revised
12. Every reasonable step, including revising
guidance, should be taken to ensure that allegations do not unduly
damage schools or the teacher concerned. If the impact of the
investigative process can be minimised, the attraction of making
false or malicious allegations may diminish. Teacher Support Network
has observed that awareness of guidance changes can be very low,
so any alterations should be accompanied by effective awareness-raising
campaigns.
13. We believe that the following points
should be included in all relevant guidance:
— When an allegation is made, the teacher
in question should be assured by their school and the designated
local authority officer that legally-required guidelines will
be followed and that they should be able to continue their work
as much as possible while the allegation is investigated. The
teacher should be reassured that the school and all other authorities
involved will presume their innocence unless there is sufficient
evidence to the contrary.
— Any teacher facing an allegation
should be informed of available emotional support services, including
Teacher Support Network's and the support services provided by
the teacher unions.
— Any teacher facing an allegation
should receive up-to-date guidance on their rights and responsibilities
during the investigation process. This should include information
on the benefits of voluntarily supporting police investigations,
for example.
— The teacher should have a choice
about the degree to which the allegation is shared with other
members of the school community. Unless the teacher requests otherwise,
any connected pupil and their parents or carers should be asked
not to disclose information of the allegation to others.
— Case studies should accompany more
detailed guidance which advise when suspension or police involvement
is appropriate. This important decision can be oversimplified
in existing guidance. For example, Safeguarding Children and
Safer Recruitment in Education provides detail in one section,
but simply advises that "the procedures need to be applied
with common sense and judgement" (5.14, p 61) in another.
— Unless the teacher agrees, a record
of a false or malicious allegation should not be kept on their
confidential personnel file, provided that no record is to be
kept on their future CRB Disclosure either. Existing guidance
is ambiguous on this matter, particularly in circumstances where
a teacher resigns during an investigation into a false allegation
(for example, 5.49, p 67 of Safeguarding Children and Safer
Recruitment in Education).
— No case should be referred to List
99, the CRB or the GTC if the allegation is found to be unsubstantiated,
irrespective of whether the teacher leaves their post.
— Appointed Police senior officers
and unit officers for school allegations cases should be advised
how to ensure that a school and any staff facing an allegation
are disturbed, professionally or emotionally, as little as possible.
Police should also receive revised guidance for the application
of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. As the successful 2009
High Court appeal of History teacher, Mr Matthew Wren, shows,
it is vital that the Police do not note voluntary interviews on
the Police National Computer, for example.
— Any teachers preparing to return
from suspension should be given information about available support
services, such as Teacher Support Network's and the teacher unions'.
Teacher Support Network anonymous case study—false
allegation
14. John is an experienced teacher aged
45; employed at a special needs school. When he contacted Teacher
Support Network he was feeling low and unsure of the teaching
profession in general. Two days before, out of the blue, he was
accused of sexually assaulting a child.
15. The allegation was totally unfounded
and the child concerned admitted this when they were asked about
it further. They had simply not wanted to take part in John's
lessons any more and this was the way they chose to get out of
them. John could not get over the fact that the allegation was
totally unfounded and that the school had not taken any disciplinary
action against the child.
16. John had not returned to the school
since the allegation was made. He was feeling very unsupported
by the school and was shocked that he could be accused of such
a serious offence. It had never happened to him before. As a result,
he was considering leaving teaching altogether.
17. When John called Teacher Support Network,
his call was taken by a trained coach who listened to his thoughts
and feelings about the whole situation. The coach encouraged John
to talk about his wellbeing and come to terms with the situation.
John had a lot of questions which the coach was able to help him
address, such as: why did the child make the allegation, what
were his options, why couldn't he bring himself to go back to
school and where could he go from here?
18. John was receiving practical support
from his union, but he had wanted additional emotional support.
By talking to a Teacher Support Network coach, John was helped
to identify what it was that he found most upsetting; the feeling
of vulnerability as a teacher and the worry that he may not want
to return. John and his coach went on to explore possible outcomes
which led him to think about how much he enjoyed teaching, how
he needed to work for practical reasons, and how rewarding his
work at the school usually was.
19. Through talking to Teacher Support Network,
John realised that although leaving teaching was an option open
to him, there were other options too. He realised that he would
be in the same position in any other school, and he decided to
work through his feelings of vulnerability. To do this, he decided
to set up a meeting with his head teacher to discuss his feelings
and make arrangements for additional support from the school.
He was also thinking of establishing guidelines in the school
to safeguard him and his colleagues from false allegations in
future.
Encl:[1]
— Report on BBC Radio 5 Live Donal
McIntyre's Freedom of Information request, September 2008.
— Report on ATL and NASUWT false allegation
cases, March 2008.
— Audit of allegations against teachers
and other staff in the education service—September 2003
to August 2004, DfES.
— 2007 ICM/Guardian/Headspace
survey report, September 2007.
— ATL "Report" monthly magazine
article, April 2009.
— Safeguarding Children and Safer
Recruitment in Education, DCSF, January 2007.
May 2009
1 Enclosures not printed. Back
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