Nearly 30 teachers have received criminal convictions in Otago during the past eight years, ranging from drugs and alcohol offences to violence and pornography offending.
Figures released by the New Zealand Teachers' Council under the Official Information Act revealed 29 teachers have been convicted of criminal offences in Otago since 2004, and a further three for offences of a sexual nature since 1992.
The number of yearly convictions peaked in 2010 at eight, falling to two last year.
Five teachers have been struck off the teaching register since 1992; three in the 1990s for convictions of a sexual nature, one in 2005 for drug and alcohol convictions and one in 2010 for a pornography offence.
Teachers are required, under the Education Act 1989, to inform the New Zealand Teachers' Council within seven days when they receive a conviction.
The registrar of each court in New Zealand also contacts the Teachers' Council when a person they believe to be a teacher is convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment of three months or more.
Council director Peter Lind said the information provided related to teachers recorded as being in the region at the time a complaint was made.
"However, these teachers may no longer be teaching in the region, or be teaching at all," he said.
Otago Primary Principals' Association president Brent Caldwell said the Teachers' Council and the criminal justice system appeared to be working well in tandem to ensure members of the teaching profession convicted of serious offences were identified and dealt with accordingly.
Secondary Principals' Association of New Zealand president Patrick Walsh said the figures needed to be kept in perspective to avoid alarming the public, with 80,000 teachers in New Zealand.
Mr Walsh sits on the teachers' Disciplinary Tribunal and believed the system worked well to ensure "the guilty are removed".
"But my personal view is that the tribunal hearings ought to be in public. Teachers ought to be treated the same as other professions.
"There's strong public interest in teachers with serious criminal convictions.
"We share the view that teachers should be fit and proper to teach children," he said.
Teacher convictions
Teachers receiving convictions in Otago
• 1992: 1 sexual nature.
• 1993: 1 sexual nature.
• 1996: 1 sexual nature.
• 2004: 1 violence.
• 2005: 1 dishonesty; 1 "other" category; 1 alcohol and drug.
• 2006: 4 "other" category; 1 alcohol and drug.
• 2007: 1 "other"category; 1 dishonesty; 1 alcohol and drug.
• 2008: 2 "other" category; 3 alcohol and drug; 1 violence.
• 2009: 1 dishonesty; 3 alcohol and drug.
• 2010: 1 pornography; 1 dishonesty; 6 alcohol and drug.
• 2011: 2 alcohol and drug.
