SA laws failing to protect learners from sexual predator teachers

Schools should be a safe environment, a place of learning where children can develop their potential. In SA, many public schools are instead hothouses for teachers’ poor performance, financial mismanagement, assault, and sexual misconduct.

When cases of misconduct in schools emerge, they tend to follow the same pattern: public outcry, media coverage and political promises.

What often follows is inaction, and teachers are not always held accountable.

One reason is a fragmented legislative framework applicable to teachers. This can be explained using sexual misconduct as an example.

As a labour law researcher, I analysed legislation, statistics and 137 arbitration awards involving teachers, and found that fragmentation in legislation results in a lack of co-ordination between key role players on two levels. First, in preventing sexual misconduct by teachers at schools; and second, in addressing it once it has occurred.

The lack of co-ordinated legal obligations means it is left to a few diligent role players in the education system to ensure prospective teachers are suitable to work with children, and to pursue discipline in the case of sexual misconduct.

All teachers in SA must be registered with the SA Council for Educators, the professional body responsible for maintaining ethical and professional standards.

Their continued registration depends on their conduct. If a teacher seriously breaches the code of professional ethics, their name can be removed from the register. They are then prohibited from working at any school in the country (provided their prospective employer checks their registration status).

On the other hand, the relevant provincial department of education (employer) is responsible for dealing with teacher misconduct in terms of the Employment of Educators Act. This may attract a number of sanctions, including dismissal.

The Council for Educators Act applies to all teachers, whereas the Employment of Educators Act applies only to those employed by the department. The general rules of the Labour Relations Act apply to the employment of teachers appointed by school governing bodies.