The Government will tighten up teacher registration legislation to limit the chance of teachers involved in misconduct or who are incompetent, moving from school to school.

Education Minister Trevor Mallard said he was concerned by Teacher Registration Board submissions that some schools were playing a part in protecting incompetent teachers from losing their registration.

"The board has raised concerns that unless a teacher is convicted for a relatively serious offence or their case is forwarded to the Teacher Registration Board, there are no measures in place to stop a teacher who has been dismissed for misconduct getting a job in another school.

"Moreover, if a school reaches an out of court settlement with a particular staff member, it is likely parents and pupils will never know an incident has occurred and that teacher is able to move on to another school.

"Similarly teachers who leave before formal competency procedures are invoked are free to damage the education of children at successive schools.

"Later this year, I will introduce legislation which will require mandatory reporting of misconduct by teachers. The legislation will also enable people other than Boards of Trustees – such as parents – to forward complaints of misconduct to the Teacher Registration Board and its successor," Trevor Mallard said.

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