Regulation

The General Teaching Council is required to regulate the conduct and competence of teachers in the public interest.

Teachers’ employers (including supply agencies) must refer to the Council when they have ceased to use the services of a registered teacher because of misconduct or incompetence. Cases of teachers who have resigned short of the employer taking action are also considered.

Cases of unacceptable professional conduct, which includes criminal conviction, are referred to the GTC by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). They may decide to take their own action to bar or restrict a teacher where the safety and welfare of children is at risk, or public confidence in the profession would be compromised.Members of the public can also make referrals about teachers’ conduct.

The GTC has a rigorous process in place to hear cases. Each hearing panel has two teachers and one lay member, has an independent legal adviser, and is held in public.

These safeguards mean the public can be assured that the profession is regulating in partnership with people representing the interests of children, parents and the broader community, and is examining serious cases with rigour and transparency.

Each GTC panel can take a series of actions which include:

To issue a reprimand
To make a teachers’ continued registration subject to meeting specified conditions (a Conditional Registration order)
To suspend from the Register, with conditions if appropriate, for a period of up to two years (a Suspension Order)
To prohibit eligibility for registration (a Prohibition Order).

The GTC is constantly building on its experience of hearing cases to refine its procedures. The Registrar’s Annual Report summarises the lessons we are learning from the experience of regulation to date.


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