TEACHERS are worried that "their lives can be rent apart" by unfounded allegations of physical or sexual abuse the assistant general secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland has said.
Mr John White said this "major concern had been expressed in a private session of the ASTI's annual convention in Galway last week. Delegates had urged that there should be "a major rationalisation of the three investigations which take place into such allegations".
He said the Department of Education's 1992 guidelines on reporting allegations of abuse in schools were "excellent". Under them, teachers are instructed to inform their principal of any allegation or suspicion, and the principal has to be satisfied there are "reasonable grounds" for such an allegation.
If he or she is so satisfied, the chairperson of the school's board of management must be informed. This person will tell the director of community care of the local health board, who will in turn inform the gardai.
However, Mr White said yesterday difficulties had arisen with the operation of the guidelines. Firstly, principals are not clear about the extent of the investigation they have to carry out in order to establish the "reasonable grounds" of an allegation, and once an allegation has been made it can make the atmosphere in a school extremely fraught.
An even greater difficulty has been caused by the length of time the various investigations take to conclude.
Three investigations are undertaken:
. a criminal investigation by the gardai;
. an investigation by the health board, which has a statutory duty to protect children in its area;
. an investigation by the teacher's employers, the school board of management, to ascertain whether he or she should be disciplined, up to and including dismissal.
This can lend to "extraordinary trauma", lasting up to 10 months, for the accused teacher. Health board investigations are often particularly slow because of the heavy case loads social workers have to carry in this area. "The lives of the teachers affected can be absolutely rent apart," even through in the end they may be found to be entirely blameless Mr White said.
It is understood that around half a dozen abuse allegations against second level teachers have come to the attention of the authorities in the past three years.
Last week, the ASTI convention urged the union to negotiate with the Department of Education "to establish procedures in relation to allegations of misconduct against teachers which will allow speedy expedition of matters in relation to such allegations and which will protect the professionalism and personal integrity of teachers where such allegations are unfounded".
Mr White pointed to a recent submission by the union to the Department of Education in which it emphasised that its central concern was the protection of children and stressed the importance of "appropriate safeguards for all, including the persons against whom allegations are made".