DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT ON THE
BASIS OF CRIMINAL RECORD

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Submission No. 31 - Western Australian College of Teaching

Submission received from: Ms Pamela Paton, Director
Western Australian College of Teaching
22 Hasler Road
OSBORNE PARK WA 6017

Dear Mr Duffield

Re: Discussion Paper December 2004

I thank you for forwarding a copy of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's Discussion Paper of December 2004 tilted "Discrimination in Employment on the Basis of Criminal Record" to the Western Australian College of Teaching ("the College").

As you may be aware, the Western Australian College of Teaching Act 2004 ("the Act") was proclaimed on 15 September 2005. Since that date, the College has completed its first stage by registering new graduates to the teaching profession that involved the applicants consenting to a criminal record check. The second phase will involve the College registering approximately 35 000 teachers in all sectors and schools in Western Australia over the course of 2005. Accordingly, the issues raised by your discussion paper have been of great interest given the huge task the College has in registering a large number of teachers and considering their criminal records.

As noted in the discussion paper, the College is one of those organizations that must exercise extreme care in considering an applicant's criminal due to the applicant's intention to work with children. At this stage, I would like to provide a response to questions 7(a) 7(b) and 7(e) of the discussion paper.

Question 7(a) - Do you have any examples of clear procedures for examining an applicant's criminal record? Are there currently any guidelines in your organisation or industry?

The College has engaged the Western Australian Department of Education and Training ("DET") to conduct the screening process for all applicants. The DET has a Screening Committee that considers criminal records and makes recommendations to various government agencies and bodies. DET engages the services of CRIM TRAC to perform the criminal record checks.

The Committee consists of a wide range of persons with varying backgrounds and expertise. In this regard, I am a member of the committee and offer a degree of expertise in relation to person's who have a criminal record and are seeking registration as a teacher. In considering an application, the Committee takes into account the following matters-

nature and seriousness of the offence;
relevance of the offence to employment in a school, taking into account the safety and welfare of the students;
age of the applicant when the offence(s) was committed;
how recently the offence was committed and, where multiple offences are recorded, the number of years since the last offence; and
any mitigating circumstances presented by the applicant.

The Screening Committee will make an initial assessment on the applicant's criminal record and then provide a recommendation to the College. The College will then make a final determination that takes into account the following matters -

the assessment of the applicant's criminal record by the Screening Committee;
whether the offences fall within the ambit of Schedule 2 of the Act;
whether the nature of offence renders the person "unfit to be a teacher"; and
time period that has lapsed since the conviction.

The College is currently in the process of drafting a policy and procedure document that will incorporate the process to be followed in assessing an applicant's criminal record. At the outset, it is envisaged that this document will seek to achieve a balance between the desire of the applicant to move on from his/her criminal record and the need to provide children with a safe learning environment. To date, I believe that the College has exercised a balanced approached in approving applications of persons who have a criminal record on the grounds that their criminal behaviour occurred some time ago and was not of the nature that could endanger a child.

7(b) - What would further assist you in understanding your responsibilities and in what form would the information be most useful?

As you would be aware, a Western Australian criminal record does not include details of whether a person has been charge with a criminal offence. However, the Act contemplates that the College will be notified if a teacher is charged with, or committed for trial or sentence before any court, for an offence described in schedule 2 of the Act (which essentially consists of sexual related offences).

In view of the above, it would assist the College if the Commission has any guidelines regarding the status of employing a person who has been charged with a criminal offence. The College would also be interested to obtain information concerning whether they can notify schools and other teaching associations that they have received notification that a teacher has been charged with certain offences. The Act is unclear of the College's position concerning its duty to notify the teaching profession as a whole. In this regard, the College would be grateful for information in any form that is relevant to the teaching profession.

7(e) - Does your organization have any training materials that address these issues?

Apart from the draft policy and procedure document, the College has no training material for staff concerning their responsibilities and duties when assessing processing a person's application. The College would be grateful to receive any information that may assist in training both staff and members of the Board of their duties and responsibilities in this regard.

Thank you again for the opportunity to comment on this important matter. The College looks forward to hearing further from the Commission.

Yours sincerely

Pamela Paton
Director, Western Australian College of Teaching