A Queensland teacher who tickled three young girls at a primary school has had his suspension lifted after his case was reviewed by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The teacher, referred to as "CMF", was charged with a "serious offence" on May 18, 2013 relating to four situations in which he tickled three school girls over a period of two months.
The teacher, aged 69 at the time of the incidents, tickled two Year 5 students around the waist on three separate occasions during a game of hide-and-seek that a group of three female students were playing at the school.
The third girl involved in the game was not tickled after she told the teacher she wasn't ticklish.
On a fourth occasion, the teacher had been alone with one of the same girls in an open demountable classroom and had tickled her on the waist from behind for at least 20 seconds.
As a result, the Queensland College of Teachers (the College) suspended the teacher's registration on May 22, 2013.
Almost two years later in early 2015, the Director of Public Prosecutions gave notice to the Board of Teacher Registration that the case against the defendant had been dropped after juries from two separate trials were unable to reach a verdict.
The matter was referred to the tribunal in May 2015 as the College believed a ground for disciplinary action against the man existed.
In submissions made to the tribunal, the College acknowledged that the "physical contact and touching between teachers and students is a difficult area" but found tickling fell below expected standards because it "involved a number of students on repeated occasions over two months" and was "not invited or in any meaningful way responsive or related to a valid educational purpose".
The College also maintained the tickling involved a substantial and repeated failure to respect professional boundaries and to respect students.
In submissions to the tribunal, the respondent denied it was indecent or in any way sexual, but admitted the conduct was not appropriate.
In its review, the tribunal took into account the scope of the respondent's otherwise unblemished professional history record, from when he was first registered as a teacher in 1975 to when he retired from Education Queensland at 55 to work as a supply teacher.
The tribunal also took into account clinical psychologist Dr Alan Keen's medical report from April 2016 that found the respondent "reported remorse" and "did not show any disorders which suggest he imposes an elevated risk in dealing with children".
However Dr Keen said that if the respondent were found suitable to teach, he recommended three months of supervised practice under the supervision of a qualified mentor/teacher/colleague to help increase the an understanding of current rules and regulations around dealing with children.
The tribunal reviewed the case and found the conduct was not indecent, violent or sexual and was not accompanied by any comments of a sexual or suggestive nature.
"Although the conduct, when it occurred, fell below the standard of behaviour the community or teaching profession would generally expect of a teacher in that it transgressed professional boundaries, it was not conduct which we find, in view of other relevant matters, makes CMF unsuitable to teach at the present time," the tribunal outlined.
The tribunal ended the suspension of CMF's teacher registration on August 15, 2016.
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