The government is consulting on plans to extend its powers so that it is able to ban more people from teaching for misconduct.
Under new proposals published today, former teachers and those out of work could be barred by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) for committing serious misconduct.
This is one of three key proposals that the Department for Education has set out in its consultation.
It is also proposing to broaden the scope of teaching work that people can be banned from to include more settings, such as online providers.
And it wants the TRA to be able to consider cases of misconduct that the DfE has identified itself, such as fraud or exam malpractice inside schools.
The most serious cases of misconduct are ruled on by the TRA, which operates on behalf of the education secretary.
Teaching bans: Misconduct outside of teaching work
Currently, teacher misconduct will only be considered by the TRA if the offence took place while the employee was in teaching work.
However, under new proposed changes, the TRA would be able to consider all referrals of serious misconduct committed by any individual who has “at any time in the past been employed or engaged to undertake teaching work” in a relevant setting.
These changes would mean that those on a career break or teaching infrequently, those teaching online or supply teachers between jobs could be considered by the TRA and potentially prohibited from returning to the classroom in the future.
The DfE has not currently proposed a limit on the length of time it has been since a person was employed or engaged in teaching work.
Changes to the definition of ‘teaching work’
The department is also planning to broaden the range of settings that teachers found to have committed serious misconduct would be prohibited from.
Under the proposed changes, the TRA would be able to consider referrals of serious misconduct for teachers employed or engaged to undertake teaching work in these new settings.
It will also prevent prohibited teachers from carrying out teaching work in such settings in the future.
The new proposed changes list further education colleges, providers of post-16 education, and providers of online education as new settings to be covered by the TRA
The introduction of online education settings to the list follows the increase in the use of these platforms over the past two years of the pandemic.
The department is also currently working with Ofsted to develop the Online Education Accreditation Scheme (OEAS), with applications for the scheme expected to launch this year.
Teachers could be banned for misconduct uncovered by the DfE
Currently, anyone who acts on behalf of the secretary of state - any DfE official in any DfE group, agency or arm’s length body - cannot make a referral to the TRA as it is designated as “a self-referral”.
The government is planning to change this to allow the TRA to consider referrals made from within the department.
The consultation document says: ”For example, DfE officials in ESFA (the Education and Skills Funding Agency) may uncover fraud during an academy audit, or STA (the Standards and Testing Agency) may uncover serious exam malpractice during an investigation.
“At the moment such serious matters are not able to be referred to the TRA for consideration because, as in the example above, ESFA and STA are within the overall DfE and regarded as a self-referral, which is not permitted by the current legislation.
“Our proposal here is to allow DfE officials to refer a case to the TRA where, in the course of their normal duties, they are presented with a matter where the teacher involved may be guilty of unacceptable professional conduct or conduct that may bring the teaching profession into disrepute, or has been convicted (at any time) of a relevant offence.”
The DfE has said that such referrals may only be considered where the misconduct is uncovered during the course of an official’s normal duties.
