Date of Publication: October 14, 2024
That the registered teacher,
- Forged a professional support team member’s signature in the Joint Declaration section on a Form D-Droichead: Joint Declaration Form dated 27 April 2022 (“the Form D”) without his knowledge or consent, and submitted it to the Teaching Council; and/or
- Forged a second professional support team member’s signature in the Joint Declaration section on the Form D without his knowledge or consent, and submitted it to the Teaching Council; and/or
- Having forged the signatures of two professional support team members on the Form D, as referred to in allegation 1 and 2 above respectively, applied the stamp of the school, to the Form D in circumstances where the registered teacher should not have done so; and/or
- On or around 27 April 2022, submitted to the Teaching Council the Form D, in which the registered teacher stated that the Droichead process had concluded on 28 March 2022, when the registered teacher knew or ought to have known that this was not the case; and/or
- Declared on the Form D which was submitted to the Teaching Council the following – “the information provided by me in all sections of my Droichead Form D and reflected in this Joint Declaration Form is true and accurate,” when the registered teacher knew or ought to have known that this was not the case.
The Panel found that each of the allegations taken individually amounted to professional misconduct.
The Panel also made findings in relation to breaches of the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers updated 2nd edition, 2016 (the “Code”) as follows:
- a breach of section 2.1 of the Code which states that teachers should “act with honesty and integrity in all aspects of their work”.
- a breach of section 2.3 of the Code which states that teachers should “represent themselves, their professional status, qualifications and experience honestly”.
- a breach of section 3.1 of the Code which states that teachers should “uphold the reputation and standing of the profession”.
Following the inquiry, the Panel of the Disciplinary Committee decided to suspend the registered teacher from the Register for a period of one month.
The Disciplinary Committee Panel’s decision was confirmed by the High Court on 22 July 2024 and the sanction took effect.