The Board is established under the Teachers Registration and Standards Act 2004 (the Act) and has legislated responsibility for the registration of all teachers in South Australia.
The object of the Act is to establish and maintain a teacher registration system and professional standards for teachers to safeguard the public interest in there being a teaching profession whose members are competent educators and fit and proper persons to have the care of children (Section 4 of the Act).
The Board must have the welfare and best interests of children as its paramount consideration in the performance of its functions (Section 7 of the Act).
One of the methods in which the Board ensures that only fit and proper persons are, or continue to be registered as teachers, is by undertaking preliminary assessments and/or investigating;
- Allegations of unprofessional conduct against teachers to determine whether there is proper cause for disciplinary action.
- Allegations that a teachers' capacity to teach may be seriously impaired by an illness or disability affecting their behaviour or competence as a teacher.
- Allegations of underperformance (incompetence).
The Board may receive information about allegations relating to teachers from a variety of sources including teachers themselves, colleagues, members of the public, employers, South Australia Police (SAPOL), Director of Public Prosecutions, and/or the Department of Human Services Central Assessment Unit.
Information relating to a teacher’s criminal record including criminal charges and/or convictions is obtained from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) during a mandatory Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check which the Board conducts on every teacher upon application for registration and at each renewal of registration (i.e. every 5 years).
Pursuant to Section 51 of the Act, arrangements are in place between the Teachers Registration Board, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Commissioner of the South Australia Police for the sharing of information concerning offences which may have been committed by a registered teacher and which raise serious concerns about the person’s fitness to be, or continue to be, registered as a teacher.
