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Society of Editors condemns teacher anonymity law

Industry leaders have condemned new laws due to come into force next week which will ban the identification of teachers accused of abusing their pupils.

A clause in the Education Act 2011 which comes into force on Monday will restrict the reporting of alleged offences by teachers where the complainant is a pupil at the school in which they teach.

It will be an offence for a newspaper to publish anything likely to identify a person as a teacher alleged to have committed a criminal offence against a pupil at the same school, where that allegation has been made by or on behalf of the pupil.

The Society of Editors, which together with the Newspaper Society lobbied hard to prevent the clause becoming law, has condemned its implementation as an attack on freedom of speech.

Executive director Bob Satchwell said:  “It will be a criminal offence for anyone – pupil, parent, police, school, local authority, whistle-blower, media – even to inform parents or the general public that an identified teacher has admitted that the allegation is true and has resigned, has been disciplined, or even cautioned for the offence.

“Although we acknowledge teachers’ fears about false accusations, the most important issue is surely to protect children. Malicious allegations by pupils are extremely rare and alongside this the laws of libel, contempt and confidence already restrict newspapers from repeating and publishing unsubstantiated accusations.”

Accoding to the new law, the restriction can only be lifted once the teacher is charged with an offence or if he or she agrees to waive their anonymity.

Added Bob:  “By preventing anyone from reporting allegations, the worry is that valid concerns may now be swept under the carpet. Alongside this people may now be convicted for telling the truth.”

8 comments

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  • September 27, 2012 at 10:57 am
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    What a load of nonsense, Bob. This does not prevent people from reporting allegations … it prevents them telling all and sundry, including the press who are not capable of acting appropriately or proportionately in most cases, usually in the name of ‘editorial reasons’.

    It will clearly not be an offence for a victim to report things to a head teacher or other responsible authority.

    Yet again the high handed press pushing something on some a moral bandwagon when in reality it’s just about cheap headlines.

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  • September 27, 2012 at 11:13 am
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    This is an appalling piece of legislation which means that parents and the public will be kept in the dark if a teacher is accused of abuse. It will make it easier for schools and church authorities to cover up abuse…something many of them have done for decades. To make matters worse it only applies to teachers…if the school caretaker is accused he will be publically exposed. You couldn’t make it up!

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  • September 27, 2012 at 11:52 am
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    This new law is needed to stop whiny, jumped up, snotty-nosed brats ruining the careers of good teachers without just cause. It stops unfounded gossip becoming a career-ending matter. It does not stop the reporting of criminal charges against teachers or their convictions.

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  • September 27, 2012 at 12:10 pm
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    Steve’s ability to grasp the wrong end of the stick is uncanny.
    He says the new law does not stop ‘people’ from reporting allegations – by that I think he means pupils who are claiming to be victims, which no-one has suggested in the first place!
    Otherwise there is very obviously a ban on reporting allegations – so what the hell else could he be talking about?
    He then harangues the press because they can’t be trusted to act appropriately with sensitive information for ‘editorial reasons’.
    He comes across as media groupie with a grudge about something or other. Perhaps he didn’t make it as a journalist and he’s never quite got over it?

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  • September 27, 2012 at 2:25 pm
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    I understand the need to protect teachers from malicious complaints but surely this is not the way to tackle this problem. Under this legislation a teacher can be struck off and removed from a school for alleged sex offences but no one in the local community, including parents, would be aware of it. The current Draconian libel laws ensure that local papers must behave responsibly in these sort of cases. There have been plenty of cases where people making false rape claims have been publicised and dealt with through the courts. This is a bad law which will unravel the first time it is tested.

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  • September 27, 2012 at 3:35 pm
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    whocares

    How would you protect teachers from malicious complaints?

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  • September 28, 2012 at 9:45 am
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    It is clear that the parliamentarians have not thought this one through. As Bob indicates, the law of libel is a factor here. If a newspaper publishes allegations against a teacher and that teacher is not subsequently charged, the teacher (no doubt aided by his union) can sue for defamation unless there are shown to be reasonable grounds for suspicion.. Past cases indicate that the fact that someone has complained to the police, who then investigate, may not be recognised as being reasonable grounds for suspicion.
    This is yet another restriction on publication which was totally unnecessary.

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  • September 30, 2012 at 2:49 pm
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    Law has heart in right place but will not work in real world. There have been some high-profile cases here in WsM in recent years. If the media does not report on the story when first police contact is made there must be a danger that other victims are too scared to speak out or worse other people become victims. Why are teachers an exception? Arguably there’s a greater public interest when it is someone who is trusted with kids. I can’t imagine how bad it is to be falsely accused but for every other case proven innocence at court is enough so I fear this could be the start of further restrictions.

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