Home › Professional discipline › Teaching Council
The Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand regulates registered teachers and holders of a limited authority to teach, in schools and licensed early childhood services. Conduct concerns are investigated by a Complaints Assessment Committee, and the most serious go to the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal, which can censure a teacher, impose conditions, suspend a practising certificate, or cancel registration. The process runs under the Education and Training Act 2020 and applies nationwide.
If a complaint has been made about you
Most Teaching Council matters start with your employer, because school boards and early childhood employers have legal duties to report teachers to the Council. An employer must report every dismissal, whatever the reason. It must report a resignation if, in the previous 12 months, it had told you it was dissatisfied with your conduct or competence or intended to investigate. And it must report immediately if it has reason to believe you have engaged in serious misconduct, which can be before any employment investigation has finished.
This is why the employment process and the Council process have to be handled together. The Complaints Assessment Committee can require your employer to hand over information, so what you say to your employer’s investigator can end up before the regulator. An admission made to resolve the employment problem can become the foundation of the disciplinary case.
If you have received a letter from the Council or the CAC, get advice before you respond. We act for teachers at every stage. Wellington based, acting nationwide.
How the process works
- The matter reaches the Council. Usually through a mandatory employer report. Public complaints about conduct generally have to go to your employer first.
- Referral to the Complaints Assessment Committee. The CAC investigates. You are entitled to respond, and that response is the most important document in the case.
- The CAC decides. It can take no further action, refer you to a competency review or an impairment process, or, with your agreement, resolve less serious misconduct itself with outcomes such as censure or conditions. It must refer to the Tribunal any matter that may possibly amount to serious misconduct. That is a deliberately low bar.
- The Tribunal hearing. A panel of three: a lawyer chair and two registered teachers. Hearings are public by default, and may be in person, online or on the papers. The CAC prosecutes; a lawyer or union advocate can represent you.
- Decision, penalty and costs. Decisions are published after the appeal period, with any suppression orders applied.
Interim suspension can happen at any stage of a serious misconduct matter. The CAC can apply to the Tribunal’s chairperson, who may suspend your practising certificate with or without a hearing, having regard primarily to the safety of children and the reputation of the profession. The suspension can be noted on the public register. If this happens, move fast: the chairperson must review the decision if you request a review during the initial period and provide a written statement in support.
What is at risk
If serious misconduct is proved, the Tribunal can censure you, impose conditions on your practising certificate, suspend it, annotate the register, fine you up to $3,000, order costs, or cancel your registration. Cancellation sits at the top of that range and is reserved for the most serious cases, such as an intimate relationship with a student.
Costs are real money. The High Court has said the usual starting point in professional discipline is a contribution of about half of the prosecution’s reasonable costs. In recent Tribunal decisions, teachers who engaged and cooperated have commonly been ordered to pay around 40 percent of the CAC’s and the Tribunal’s costs, which has meant orders in the range of $8,000 to $16,000.
The first week
- Do not respond to the CAC, or to your employer’s investigator, before taking advice. The two processes share one set of facts, and material moves between them.
- Do not resign in the hope it ends the matter. It does not. The law applies to former teachers, the Council cannot deregister you at your own request while you are under investigation, and a resignation after concerns have been raised is itself reportable.
- If you are convicted of an offence punishable by three months’ imprisonment or more, you must report it to the Council within seven days. Failing to report is itself misconduct. The court registrar reports it anyway.
- If an interim suspension is made, request a review immediately with a written statement in support. The review is then mandatory.
- Check your union cover and your insurance. Communications with a union advocate who represents you in the Tribunal are privileged in the same way as with a lawyer.
Frequently asked questions
Will I lose my registration?
Only the most serious cases end in cancellation. Many matters are resolved by the CAC without a Tribunal referral, and the Tribunal has a full range of lesser outcomes. But because the referral threshold is low, matters can reach the Tribunal even where the likely outcome is at the lower end.
Are Tribunal hearings public? Will my name be published?
Hearings are public by default and decisions are published, usually with names. The Tribunal can suppress names and details, but teachers face a high threshold, particularly after an adverse finding. Student identities are routinely suppressed; the teacher’s name is not.
Can I just resign?
Resigning your job does not stop the process, and can trigger a mandatory report if concerns had already been raised. Resigning your registration is not available while you are under investigation.
Who pays the costs?
You pay your own representation. If the charge is proved, expect a costs order on top. The starting point is a contribution of about half of the prosecution’s reasonable costs, and in recent decisions cooperating teachers have commonly paid around 40 percent of the CAC’s and the Tribunal’s costs.
Can my union represent me?
Yes, and many teachers are well served that way. Whoever represents you, the early sequencing between the employment process and the Council process is where cases are won and lost.
Can I appeal?
Yes, to the District Court, generally within 28 days. The decision remains in force while the appeal is heard unless the court orders otherwise, so ask about a stay at the same time.
How Andy Bell can help
Andy Bell is an employment lawyer at Lane Neave. Teacher discipline is where employment law and professional regulation collide: the report that starts the Council process usually comes out of an employment process, and the way one is handled shapes the other. Andy advises on both together, from the first allegation to the Tribunal and any appeal. The first consultation is free, and confidential.
Back to professional discipline | Home
This page is general information, not legal advice. Take advice on your own situation before acting.