Skip to main content

Strengthening and Contemporising the Teacher Registration (Northern Territory) Act

Office of the Chief Minister

The Teacher Registration (Northern Territory) Act is set to be amended for the first time in nearly a decade, to strengthen the legislation and continue to make the safety of school children a top priority.

Minister for Education Selena Uibo today introduced the Teacher Registration (Northern Territory) Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 to contemporise the legislation for the registration of teachers and regulation of the teaching profession.

Key amendments include:

  • Streamlining the administrative processes and operations of the Teacher Registration Board
  • Strengthening the Board’s powers for disciplinary proceedings and decision making
  • Increasing openness and transparency, and availability of information, regarding the Board’s operations and decision making
  • Clarifying information the Board must be notified of by individuals, employers and other government agencies, and when information can be shared by the Board
  • Confirming the Board’s responsibility to support and recognise quality teaching and educational leadership
  • Providing efficient and cost effective recourse for decisions made by the Board
  • Enabling flexibility in dealing with evolving issues affecting teacher registration
  • Bringing consistency with the Care and Protection of Children Act, by ensuring that the regimes for teacher registration and working with children clearance are aligned.

The amendments take into consideration the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that relate to teacher registration, and the national review of teacher registration undertaken by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership last year.

The Teacher Registration (Northern Territory) Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 has been referred to the Social Policy Scrutiny Committee, which will return the Bill to the Legislative Assembly in May 2019.

 

Quotes attributable to Minister for Education, Selena Uibo.

“Children are at the centre of all decisions made by the Territory Labor Government.

“These proposed amendments strengthen and contemporise the legislation to make sure the safety and wellbeing of children in our schools continues to be paramount.

“Our government is committed to openness, transparency and accountability in all it does and these proposed amendments will enable the Board to publish information about the outcome of an inquiry, while safeguarding the privacy of the individuals involved.”

 

Media contact: Kim Stephens 0417 683 144

--> --> --> --> --> -->