WCED to strengthen vetting systems for staff appointments
In the wake of the recent discovery that a convicted paedophile had been employed as a tutor at one of our schools, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) is taking further steps to strengthen its vetting systems for staff.
The paedophile was employed by a School Governing Body. On being alerted to this, I immediately requested information from my Department as to how such access could have been given, and how we can avoid such access in future.
The Western Cape Education Department is known for viewing any allegation of sexual abuse in an extremely serious light and we give top priority to investigating these cases.
The Department also has strict processes in place when appointing new permanent employees. Vetting of new employees at a departmental level, which includes teachers and support staff, is done painstakingly. The following checks are undertaken:
1. Any person seeking employment within the WCED is required to be finger printed. We then use the services of an external service provider that specialises in background checks. The agency is well established and has direct access to police and court records. The service is probably more reliable that the Sexual Offenders Registers of the Departments of Justice and Social Development, which have for some time now been woefully inadequate, because it works with original data bases and does not rely on a third party to copy the data across.
2. The WCED checks the government’s employee records system, Persal, to establish whether a potential employee who worked previously for government was ever convicted of an offence, including sexual offences.
3. We check whether teachers are registered with the South African Council of Educators (SACE).
However, we have identified two loopholes within the system that are of concern to me. As a result I have requested my Department to move swiftly to address them.
The first loophole is that Principals often employ substitute or relief teachers for a short period, ranging from a day to a couple of weeks. This sometimes needs to be arranged at short notice (for instance when an educator is unexpectedly hospitalised). In such cases the schools submit the relevant documentation to the District Offices and then onto Head Office where the relevant checks are completed. In some cases, the relief teacher may have already completed their service at the school before the documentation reaches our Head Office.
Therefore, should a convicted sexual offender be employed for the first time as a relief teacher, at short notice for a small period of time, their previous conviction may not be known to us until they have completed their service.
The second loophole is that persons employed by School Governing Bodies, either permanently or on contract, are not subjected to the same rigorous checks as those employed by the WCED. This is possible partly because there is no policy governing the appointment process for such positions.
SGBs are required by law (Section 7 of South African Schools Act), to ensure that any educator employed by the SGB is registered as an educator with the South African Council of Educators (SACE). However, the registration processes by SACE are commonly delayed, and thus cannot be relied upon with any degree of certainty.
Therefore it is not uncommon for some new educators to indicate on their application forms that their SACE registration is still pending. This leaves the possibility open that someone may have been removed as a registered educator but, because of the fact that their registration has not been processed, or possibly the records of SACE are not up to date, they slip through the system.
I met with senior Department Officials on Monday, 1st August 2016 to discuss how we can address these loopholes.
We agreed that the following is necessary and will be implemented as soon as possible, ensuring that we follow the required processes:
1. A policy regarding SGB appointments is necessary and will be developed, which will need to include compulsory steps to be followed before anybody is allowed to be employed at a school.
2. The WCED will compile a list of approved substitute or relief teachers who have been vetted, for schools to choose from when they need somebody urgently.
Once policies and procedures are in place, compliance is crucial. This is why we will work with governing body and principal associations to improve compliance, and ensure accountability measures are enforced if they fail to comply.Any person or Educator who works with our learners should have to comply with the same rigorous checks that the WCED conducts prior to the appointment of an employee.
I appeal to all educators, parents and learners to remain vigilant to sexual predators and to report any suspicious behaviour or activity to our Safe Schools Hotline. Any form of sexual abuse should immediately be reported to the WCED.
Issued by Jessica Shelver, Jessica Shelver – Spokesperson to Minister Debbie Schafer, 15 August 2016
