Former teacher Taurapa disgraced.
Photo: NZME / George Heard

Despite calls for banning electronic communication between teachers and students outside official channels, there is no specific rule against it.

Data reviewed by NZME shows that since 2010, there have been 53 cases of teachers using social media to effectively coach young people in their care into some form of inappropriate relationship.

This represents 60 per cent of the 89 cases involving an inappropriate relationship with a student heard by the Teachers’ Disciplinary Tribunal over the past 14 years.

In 24 of those cases where texting, email, or social media was a tool used by a teacher to communicate with a student, some form of physical sexual intercourse developed.

In one recent case, a teacher at Christchurch’s Rangi Ruru Girls’ School, Connor Taurapa Matthews, who now goes by the name Taurapa, used Snapchat to systematically contact and groom one of his 16-year-old students. The messages turned sexual, then into empty images, then into physical intercourse.

Taurapa then asked the student to delete his messages.

That student, Helena Dray, opted to opt out of name suppression when Taurapa was taken to court last year, where his registration was immediately cancelled.

Last year, Dray called for a ban on social media contact between faculty and students.

“Nothing was done to prevent this, there was no discussion with students about these specific things, there was only interaction with teachers on social media. There were never any hard lines about it and it was really up to the discretion of the teachers at the end of the day,” Dray said at the time.

Dray told the media that there is simply no need for teachers and students to be able to send private messages to each other.

“I think the problem is with these apps where you can delete all previous messages, delete texts, delete call history, Snapchats disappear. But having a platform where IT or the school department can access those records, I think is very important.”

The exchange of thousands of “increasingly intimate and intense” text messages between a teacher and a student became the focus of a coroner’s inquest in 2016 after a Gisborne teenager took her own life.

“I so want to climb up your window right now, jump out and tell you how glad I am you’re here,” read a text from teacher Sam Back to 13-year-old Reiha McLelland.

Although no physical sexual relationship developed, Back was struck off by the court before the inquest and his partner Angle Mepham, also a teacher, was cautioned after it was discovered that McLelland had stayed overnight at their home on a number of occasions.

A coroner later found that Reiha’s risk of suicide would have been reduced had she not been involved in a “secret friendship” with Back and Mepham.

However, rather than outright ban electronic communication between teachers and students, the Teachers Council instead sought to place a code of conduct around the type of behavior that preaches caring.

Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Koroi Hawkins

“Prescriptive ‘rules’ don’t tend to be very helpful, particularly in rapidly evolving areas such as technology and artificial intelligence,” a council spokesperson told NZME.

“In lieu of rules, the teaching profession has developed a Code of Professional Responsibility and a set of standards for professional practice that are based on shared principles and values.”

That code notes that “encouraging online connections with a student outside the context of teaching” can be a violation, as can communicating with students about personal or sexual matters without a valid context.

Other aspects of the code outline how teachers should demonstrate a high standard of professional integrity, protect learners from harm and engage in ethical relationships that respect professional boundaries.

The code itself is due to be revised in 2025, following consultation with teachers last year on how it might approach educators’ use of technology, and the council told NZME it anticipated there could be more specific guidance in the code in the future.

The accountability mechanism

Professor Michael Macaulay, a former UK judge, lecturer at Victoria University’s School of Government and researcher with a focus on ethics and integrity, told NZME he had added a specific ban on teachers communicating with students about anything other than a system approved by the school. it would be both easy and realistic.

“I can’t see what the hell anyone would object to. If teachers want to contact students through some form of electronic communication, do so through an official channel.

“And if there isn’t, then you just don’t do it.”

Macaulay said predators will always break the rules, but a specific social media ban would be an additional “accountability mechanism”.

“If you cut off any avenues and opportunities, it will be a good thing. But it won’t stop predatory behavior.

“However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look at opportunities to limit this type of behavior.

“I don’t think it would be difficult to implement, and I don’t even think it would be that controversial. … It wouldn’t be a skin off the council’s teeth to implement.”

Macaulay said if a teacher needs to get hold of a student outside of school, which he acknowledged he needs in an electronic age, then he should do it through a school email that cannot be deleted or kept secret from parents or school. surveillance.

Earlier this year, James Cook High School teacher Seelandran Ramiah asked three of his female students to download the encrypted app Signal, which deletes messages after a set period of time.

Ramiah used this app to systematically groom one of those vulnerable students and sent him photos of his genitals and videos of himself masturbating.

The former deputy principal had his teaching registration canceled and was subsequently sentenced separately in the District Court to five months in prison for his conduct.

Ramiah also represents one of the few cases where a teacher has faced criminal charges along with professional consequences.

“One inappropriate relationship is too many,” says the Teachers Council.
Photo: 123rf

Professional boundaries

In 2011, the then head of the Teaching Council, Peter Lind, told the media that inappropriate relationships were an inevitability and would be impossible to eliminate completely.

The council has since changed its tune somewhat, with chief executive Lesley Hoskin telling NZME “one inappropriate relationship is one too many”.

“We believe that the vast majority of teachers understand the expectations of using social media and technology in a safe and respectful way, so there is currently no prohibition set out in the Code and Standards for using digital platforms to communicate with students.

“Just as students must learn and grow to navigate the world safely and respectfully, we expect teachers to do the same, including adapting to the ever-evolving world of technology.”

Hoskin said that when teachers crossed these professional boundaries, the context was crucial and that teachers’ use of social media to support student learning changed.

“The context for teachers’ early adoption of social media to support student learning has changed significantly as schools have moved to formally deploy approved learning technologies for student use that include built-in safeguards and are governed by clear policies for both teachers and , as well as for students. “

Hosking pointed out that there were 110,000 registered teachers in New Zealand and a total of 462 mandatory reports had been submitted to the council by June 2023, representing just 0.4% of all teachers. Of these, registration cancellations amounted to just 0.02 percent.

In the last 10 years there have been 81 inappropriate relationship cases before the tribunal, with 53 teachers having their registrations cancelled.

John Fenuaghty, Auckland University lecturer and specialist in youth welfare and psychology, agreed with the Education Council’s approach to social media in its current code of conduct.

“A caveat with a ban is recognizing that social media is a slippery concept and it’s not entirely clear what we mean when we talk about it because there are new forms that come and go all the time,” he said.

“To implement a ban would require a very clear understanding of the terms and what we mean.”

Fenaughty said the Board of Education was now focused on the ethical obligations of its members and aimed at the substance of the relationships teachers had with their students, rather than the involvement of technology.

He said that regardless of any prohibition or ethical and professional obligation that teachers have, it is essential to ensure that students know how to recognize inappropriate contact, as well as how to report it through the appropriate channels.

“It really comes back to students being able to recognize abusive grooming behaviors and what the warning signs are in that communication.

“Having said that, I would note that 99% of teacher communication is appropriate, and we need to be careful about implementing a ban that could be detrimental to the student-teacher relationship, which then impacts student academic participation.

“I think the question is does the use of social media enhance or enable a caregiving situation?”

The court noted in a 2017 case where a teacher added a young girl on Instagram that while social media was a useful tool, it expected a school to have clear guidelines around its use.

The court emphasized the harmful effect that a teacher’s treatment of a student as a friend can have on the student, noting that the resulting harm is “sometimes more (in an inappropriate relationship) than a sexual relationship.”

A spokesman for the Office for Education Evaluation said it requires schools to have a Child Protection Policy which outlines the standards and principles all its staff must adhere to.

“It must be a comprehensive and effective policy with sound practices and guidelines and outline the standards and principles that all staff will adhere to, including the actions to be taken by staff if any form of abuse is known or suspected or mistreatment.

“The policy must set out the actions required when allegations are made against staff and explore the implications for staff training.”

ERO then checks whether the schools meet these obligations.

-This story originally appeared in New Zealand Herald.