Heads call for teacher agency licences

Ms Gehring came to the UK from Canada as a supply teacher

Teacher recruitment agencies should be regulated by the Department for Education and should face tougher penalties if they make inappropriate appointments, head teachers say.

The call comes in the wake of the Amy Gehring case, where a Canadian national was brought over to the UK by agency TimePlan to cover teacher vacancies in schools in Surrey.

All the regulations that are in place to protect children cover supply agencies - it would be disastrous if that were not the case

Estelle Morris

Ms Gehring, 26, was accused of indecently assaulting two teenage boys, but was cleared at Guildford Crown Court on Monday.

It emerged, however, that previous allegations of indecent assault had been investigated by police and that Surrey's child protection unit had warned she could "pose a risk" to children.

Now the Secondary Head Association says the case raises serious issues about the procedures used to vet them.

its general secretary, John Dunford, said the government should put in place a licensing system for supply agencies, with a code of practice and clear sanctions.

Agencies 'are regulated'

But the Education Secretary, Estelle Morris, said it was wrong to think these agencies were not regulated.

There needs to be clearer sanctions and firmer codes of conduct

John Dunford, Sha

"I've heard some things in the past 24 hours that would make people believe that supply agencies aren't regulated - they are," said Ms Morris.

"So I've written to my colleagues in the Department for Trade and Industry asking them to investigate TimePlan, which is covered by all the employment regulations, the same as any other agency.

"I would want to assure everyone that the child protection regulations that apply to local authorities and schools apply to TimePlan.

"All the regulations that are in place to protect children cover supply agencies - it would be disastrous if that were not the case," she said.

Wrong department

Mr Dunford said it was wrong that teacher recruitment agencies were regulated by the Department for Trade and Industry and not the Department for Education.

"That's not good enough. There needs to be clearer sanctions and firmer codes of conduct," he said.

This was even more important, given the expansion of the market in supply teachers over the past two or three years due to teacher shortages, he said.

"Many schools have remained reliant on supply teachers in order to stay open."

More pressure

Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of the NASUWT teachers' union, said a system of licensing would ensure procedures were strictly adhered to.

"It would place more pressure on a supply agency to do things properly," said Mr de Gruchy.

"There are more and more agencies and more and more supply teachers, so there are more stages at which things can go wrong.

"In the past the LEA would have been the one-stop supplier of teachers but the proliferation of supply agencies makes the process of recruiting teachers more problematic."

Multiple responsiblity

TimePlan has accepted that one of its managers - now sacked - failed to act on a warning about Ms Gehring.

It has suggested that there should be a new "safety net" principle in respect of such warnings.

Not only should an agency such as itself, as the teacher's employer, have a duty to warn the Department for Education in such circumstances, but so should anyone else involved.

This might include social services, police, a school, the local education authority.

And, a spokesman suggested, there should be a temporary blacklist of unsuitable teachers - pending an investigation by all the agencies.