28 Feb 2012

Sex offender teacher inquiry to cover multiple agencies

9:23 pm on 28 February 2012

The Education Minister says a ministerial inquiry into how a convicted sex offender was able to work as a teacher will cover multiple agencies.

Prime Minister John Key has said the Government will rip apart the system for registering and hiring teachers to find out how the man, using multiple identities, got work in two Auckland schools.

Minister Hekia Parata says the man has worked at eight schools since 2000, two of them using his most recent identity.

She says the inquiry will identify where there are weaknesses in the system.

Ms Parata says the inquiry will look at the roles of the Teachers Council which is responsible for registering teachers; the corrections system because the man was under a supervisory order and the police because they vet candidates for teaching positions and the man had been appointed by more than one school.

The man was arrested Tuesday 21 February and is now in custody charged with fraudulent behaviour and breaching the conditions of an extended supervision order.

Families at the two Auckland schools where the teacher most recently worked were informed on Monday.

Details of the case are suppressed, but the Government says the sex offender was using different identities.

Ministerial inquiry

Education Minister Hekia Parata set up the ministerial inquiry to investigate how the man was able to work at eight schools over the last 12 years.

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She said her understanding is that the school became aware he had multiple identities and reported that to the authorities.

"The authorities then identified the individual, and identified that there had been an alleged breach."

The inquiry into the employment of the convicted sex offender will be carried out by former ombudsman Mel Smith.