Complaints about headteachers

Dear Ms Heywood,

I write further to your Freedom of Information request, dated 1
February 2011, sent via the whatdotheyknow.com website.

When the GTC receives a referral from an employer or a complaint
from a member of the public, the GTC does not electronically record
the employment position of the teacher about whom the complaint has
been made. Similarly, whether a teacher had representation would be
held on the case files but it is not recorded as a field of
information from which we can pull statistics. Therefore, I am
unable to provide you with statistics for your questions which
specifically ask about head teachers or representatives.

I have liaised with my colleagues on the Professional Standards
Team and can confirm the following for the period 01/01/09 –
31/12/10:

1. How many local authority referrals were made to the General
Teaching Council between January 2009 and January 2011?

Employers of registered teachers are required to refer a case to
the GTC when a teacher is dismissed because of misconduct or
incompetence or leaves employment in circumstances where dismissal
was a possibility. There was a total of 1129 referrals received
from Local Authorities in this time. This includes both cases of
inacceptable professional conduct and serious professional
incompetence.

2. How many private complaints were made to the General Teaching
Council between January 2009 and January 2011?

Members of the public are able to make a complaint to the General
Teaching Council about the alleged unacceptable professional
conduct on the part of a registered teacher. These complaints are
referred to as Initial Conduct Referrals (ICRs). There was a total
of 267 ICRs received during this period. Members of the public
cannot complain about a teacher’s competence.

3. How many local authority referrals came before a GTC
investigating committee?

A total of 723 conduct & competence cases were considered at, or
scheduled for Investigating Committee.

4. How many private complaints came before a GTC investigating
committee?

14 ICR cases were considered at Investigating Committee.

5. How many local authority referrals were sent to a Hearing?

415 local authority referrals were sent forward to a full hearing
by either a Professional Conduct Committee or a Professional
Competence Committee.

6. How many private complaints were sent to a Hearing?

2 ICR cases have been referred forward to a full hearing.

Yours sincerely

Stephen Goldsby Data Protection Officer Direct line: 0121 345 0137

Dear Ms Heywood,

I write further to your Freedom of Information request, dated 1 February
2011, sent via the whatdotheyknow.com website.

When the GTC receives a referral from an employer or a complaint from a
member of the public, the GTC does not electronically record the
employment position of the teacher about whom the complaint has been made.
Similarly, whether a teacher had representation would be held on the case
files but it is not recorded as a field of information from which we can
pull statistics. Therefore, I am unable to provide you with statistics for
your questions which specifically ask about head teachers or
representatives.

I have liaised with my colleagues on the Professional Standards Team and
can confirm the following for the period 01/01/09 - 31/12/10:

1. How many local authority referrals were made to the General Teaching
Council between January 2009 and January 2011?

Employers of registered teachers are required to refer a case to the GTC
when a teacher is dismissed because of misconduct or incompetence or
leaves employment in circumstances where dismissal was a possibility.
There was a total of 1129 referrals received from Local Authorities in
this time. This includes both cases of inacceptable professional conduct
and serious professional incompetence.

2. How many private complaints were made to the General Teaching Council
between January 2009 and January 2011?

Members of the public are able to make a complaint to the General Teaching
Council about the alleged unacceptable professional conduct on the part of
a registered teacher. These complaints are referred to as Initial Conduct
Referrals (ICRs). There was a total of 267 ICRs received during this
period. Members of the public cannot complain about a teacher's
competence.

3. How many local authority referrals came before a GTC investigating
committee?

A total of 723 conduct & competence cases were considered at, or scheduled
for Investigating Committee.

4. How many private complaints came before a GTC investigating committee?

14 ICR cases were considered at Investigating Committee.

5. How many local authority referrals were sent to a Hearing?

415 local authority referrals were sent forward to a full hearing by
either a Professional Conduct Committee or a Professional Competence
Committee.

6. How many private complaints were sent to a Hearing?

2 ICR cases have been referred forward to a full hearing.

Yours sincerely

Stephen Goldsby

Data Protection Officer

Direct line: 0121 345 0137

show quoted sections

General Teaching Council for England
Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4AJ

Switchboard: 0370 001 0308

The GTC works for children, through teachers.

If you are not the intended recipient of this email (and any attachment),
please destroy all copies and inform the sender by return email, or by
phoning the GTC on +44 (0)370 001 0308. Unauthorised access, use,
disclosure, storage, alteration or copying is not permitted.

The GTC cannot guarantee that this message or any attachment is virus free
or that it has not been intercepted and amended and therefore you should
perform your own virus checks.

Save a tree please do not print this email unless you really need to do so

Dear Ms Heywood,

I write further to your email dated 8 March 2011.

You are seeking information relating to the employment position of
a teacher about whom a complaint has been made and whether or not
that teacher had representation. The only place in which both
pieces of information are stored is in the paper file relating to
that case. The majority of these files are in offsite storage.
There is no one spreadsheet or database which I can query to
provide a response to your request for information. In accordance
with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 the GTC aims to be as
transparent as possible and does not rely on the exemptions
contained within the legislation unless it is absolutely
appropriate to do so. I have now given further consideration to
your request and have noted that you have limited the date range to
January 2010 to January 2011. Once the cost of responding to a
Freedom of Information request exceeds the specified threshold of
£450, the GTC is not obliged to carry out the work but can choose
to issue a fee notice.

By my calculations, your reduced request would still require me to
search manually for information in 280 files. I have listed all
aspects of the work which would be involved and worked out the
costs, in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, at
£25 per hour of staff time. The estimate is attached in the form of
a fee notice which you will need to sign and return with payment if
you require me to proceed with the work. Please note that every
effort has been made to ensure that this estimate is as
conservative as possible and you are under no obligation to make
any payment to the GTC if you choose not to proceed.

Please do not hesitate to contact me again directly if any aspect
of this response requires further clarification or explanation.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Goldsby Data Protection Officer Direct line: 0121 345 0137