DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT ON THE
BASIS OF CRIMINAL
RECORD
Click here to access:
Submission No. 7 - Board of Teacher
Registration, Queensland
Submission from: John Dwyer, Chair
19 February 2005
Mr Stephen Duffield
Director, Human Rights Unit
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001
Dear Mr Duffield
Re: Discrimination In Employment On The Basis Of Criminal Record
The Board of Teacher Registration Queensland welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the discussion on discrimination in employment on the basis of criminal record.
The Board is a professional registration body operating under Queensland statute. It is not an employing authority. It is also entirely separate from the Queensland Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian; the Board undertakes its own criminal record checks and registered teachers are exempt from the requirement to undergo the Commission's "working with children check". The Board's policies and practice are largely determined by its governing legislation, which charges it with giving primary consideration to the welfare and best interests of children. Many of the questions raised in the Discussion Paper are therefore not directly applicable to the Board's work. We have accordingly not responded directly to the questions but have provided copies of various documents which may be useful to a consideration of the issues raised in the Discussion Paper:
- Extracts from the legislation under which the Board operates, the Education (Teacher Registration) Act 1988
- Background Information on the Board's Criminal History Checking and Disciplinary Processes, including the Board's "Guidelines for Dealing with Criminal History Information"
- The Board's "Application for Teacher Registration in Queensland" form (refer especially to Sections 10, 11 and 12 )
- A "Disclosure of Change in Criminal History" form
Most of these documents are available on the Board's website (http://www.btr.qld.edu.au).
The Discussion Paper implicitly interprets "discrimination" to mean "unfair treatment of certain people based on prejudice". However, the Board is legally charged with discriminating among applicants and registrants on the basis of criminal record (among other factors). In doing so, it attempts to ensure that this process is as fair as possible given current social perceptions and government policies. (These perceptions and policies are largely based on an assumption that criminal record, no matter how old, is the major determinant of future offending behaviour, and that absence of a criminal record suggests no - or low - risk of future offending behaviour. Whether or not these assumptions are fair or are warranted by evidence is another question.)
Possession of a criminal record does not necessarily preclude the gaining of registration (and therefore employment) as a teacher in Queensland. This is evidenced by the outcomes of the Board's recent "retrospective" police checks on teachers registered before November 1997 when the Board began routine screening of all applicants. Some 62,000 teachers were retrospectively checked between October 2003 and March 2004. Of these, some 1,800 were found to have a criminal history (including charges not proceeded with and charges of which the person was found not guilty). Of these, fewer than 60 matters of concern have warranted action through the Board's disciplinary inquiry process (criminal history of concern includes any "serious offence" as defined in the Act, as well as certain other offences such as those involving child pornography).
I trust these comments and the enclosed material is of value to the discussion on this area. The Board would be pleased to assist in any other ways deemed appropriate.
Yours sincerely
John Dwyer
CHAIR
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