An Otago teacher has been struck off the teachers' register by the Disciplinary Tribunal of the New Zealand Teachers' Council after being convicted last year of indecent assault.
Figures released by the New Zealand Teachers' Council (NZTC) under the Official Information Act reveal a further three Otago teachers received convictions during 2014: for drink-driving, assault, and misleading a social worker.
Two of the three are still under investigation by the NZTC complaints assessment committee (CAC).
The council declined to name the teachers or the schools at which they worked.
Under the Education Act 1989, teachers convicted of an offence are required to inform the NZTC within seven days.
The registrar of each court in New Zealand also contacts the NZTC when a person they believe to be a teacher is convicted of an offence.
NZTC acting director Rob McIntosh said the CAC was required to investigate a teacher's conviction for any offence that incurred a possible punishment of imprisonment for three months or more.
Mr McIntosh said the Otago teacher who was struck off was one of four in New Zealand who had registrations cancelled by the NZTC Disciplinary Tribunal in 2014.
Nationwide, 149 teachers were referred to the CAC for convictions last year. Of the 149 convictions, 106 were for drug and alcohol-related offences, 12 for driving offences; 19 for dishonesty/fraud, four for offences of a sexual nature, six for violence, and two for ''other'' offences.
Thirty of these teachers remain under investigation by the CAC and five are awaiting a hearing at the Disciplinary Tribunal.
''The council and its CAC and Disciplinary Tribunal take very seriously the obligation to ensure teachers meet high standards of behaviour, both inside and outside the classroom,'' Mr McIntosh said.
''We have a system of mandatory reporting in place which helps us detect and respond to unacceptable behaviour, swiftly,'' he said.
Struck-off teachers
1992: 1 sexual nature
1993: 1 sexual nature
1996: 1 sexual nature
2004: 1 violence
2005: 1 dishonesty; 1 drug and alcohol; 1 ''other'' category
2006: 4 ''other'' category; 1 drug and alcohol
2007: 1 ''other'' category; 1 dishonesty; 1 drug and alcohol
2008: 2 ''other'' category; 3 drug and alcohol; 1 violence
2009: 1 dishonesty; 3 drug and alcohol
2010: 1 pornography; 1 dishonesty; 6 drug and alcohol
2011: 2 drug and alcohol
2012: 11 convictions on charges including violence; careless driving causing death or injury; drug and alcohol
2013: 3 drug and alcohol
2014: 1 drug and alcohol; 1 assault; 1 misleading a social worker; 1 indecent assault
Statistics provided by the New Zealand Teachers' Council
