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Queensland College of Teachers v Caldwell[2015] QCAT 229

Queensland College of Teachers v Caldwell[2015] QCAT 229

CITATION:

Queensland College of Teachers v Caldwell [2015] QCAT 229

PARTIES:

Queensland College of Teachers

(Applicant)

v

Jason Caldwell

(Respondent)

APPLICATION NUMBER:

OCR138-14

MATTER TYPE:

Occupational regulation matters

HEARING DATE:

7 May 2015

HEARD AT:

Brisbane

DECISION OF:

Member Kanowski

Dr Cullen, Member

Member Lindgren

DELIVERED ON:

24 June 2015

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

ORDERS MADE:

  1. Mr Caldwell’s teacher registration is suspended for six months. The suspension is wholly suspended for the period of 12 months from 7 May 2015. If during that period a further ground for disciplinary action arises against Mr Caldwell, the suspension of registration is to be imposed. If no such ground arises, then the suspension of registration is not to be imposed.
  2. Mr Caldwell must not approve, lead, undertake or otherwise participate in any outdoor education activity, including but not limited to camps, excursions, mission trips, bushwalking and swimming, unless a detailed risk management plan, to the minimum standard of the applicable Department of Education and Training activity risk assessment, has been approved by a specialist and appropriately qualified risk management assessment provider.
  3. Within 14 days of the approval of a plan referred to in Order 2, and prior to the undertaking of the relevant activity, Mr Caldwell must provide a copy of the approved plan to the Queensland College of Teachers.
  4. Unless emergency or other reasonable excuse exists, any outdoor education activities that are undertaken must be confined to and undertaken in accordance with the approved plan referred to in Order 2.
  5. If the outdoor activity involves bushwalking, camping or similar activities:
    1. Mr Caldwell must hold the relevant qualifications required under the Department of Education and Training activity guides for the relevant risk level for the activities; or
    2. the activity must be led by a person with such qualifications and Mr Caldwell must comply with any safety-related directions of the person.
  6. The outdoor education activity must not include:
    1. students participating in cliff jumping or any other similar activity;
    2. transporting students in vehicles without appropriate seating and/or safety restraints;
    3. transporting students in boats without appropriate safety equipment; and
    4. any other high risk activity, whether or not the activity is a common practice in the area concerned.
  7. On 6 November 2015 and 6 May 2016, Mr Caldwell must provide a report to the Queensland College of Teachers concerning the previous six months:
    1. detailing the date and nature of outdoor education activities that he has approved, led, undertaken or otherwise participated in;
    2. detailing the date and nature of any science experiments and any other activities that have a moderate or high risk of harm to students, that he has approved, led, undertaken or otherwise participated in, and risk assessments undertaken for those activities.

CATCHWORDS:

Occupational regulation matters - teacher not suitable to teach – risky outdoor activities – lack of contingency plans for inclement weather on school camp

Education (Queensland College of Teachers) Act 2005 (Qld) s 92(1)(h)

APPEARANCES:

This matter was heard and determined on the papers pursuant to section 32 of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld) (the QCAT Act).

REASONS FOR DECISION

Introduction

  1. [1]
    Mr Caldwell is the principal of a private school that provides primary and secondary distance education. He has been registered as a teacher in Queensland for some 15 years. The Queensland College of Teachers believes that Mr Caldwell is not suitable to teach, and so it has referred the matter to the Tribunal. The Tribunal is a disciplinary body for teachers in Queensland.[1]
  2. [2]
    The College’s concerns arise from a series of incidents in which students at the school were exposed to perils of various sorts. For example, Mr Caldwell organised a bushwalking trip that ended with students and accompanying adults being rescued by the State Emergency Service.
  3. [3]
    Mr Caldwell concedes that a ground for disciplinary action is established, but the Tribunal must reach its own conclusion on that question. If the Tribunal finds that a ground is established, it must then decide what disciplinary action, if any, is warranted.

Non-publication order

  1. [4]
    On 9 July 2014, the Tribunal made a non-publication order under section 66 of the QCAT Act prohibiting publication of the names, addresses and school of the students involved in this matter. That order remains in force.

The conduct leading to the disciplinary proceeding

  1. [5]
    The facts are largely undisputed, and may be briefly summarised as follows.
  2. [6]
    In September 2012 Mr Caldwell led a school “mission trip” to Vanuatu. On the trip he allowed a number of students, and an accompanying parent, to travel on the tray of the truck carrying the luggage, instead of in the buses. The group travelled to an island in “banana boats” that did not carry life vests or other safety equipment. Parents were not warned about these potential risks in the itineraries forwarded to them, nor were they asked to sign consent forms.
  3. [7]
    One day the group went cliff jumping into the sea. Although this activity was mentioned in the itinerary, there was no mention of the cliff’s height, or of the potential hazard that students who did not jump out far enough might strike the rocks below. The College says the cliff was eight to nine metres high, though Mr Caldwell thinks it was only about 6.5 metres. Mr Caldwell told the students to jump out as far as they could, and to enter the water feet-first, but he then dived head-first. Some students then entered the water other than feet-first. One girl stood for about 10 minutes at the top of the cliff, reluctant to jump despite encouragement from Mr Caldwell and others. Mr Caldwell then pushed her in. She landed in the water on her backside, which was painful. The next morning Mr Caldwell went back to the cliff with three students to do some more cliff jumping. He gave palm fronds to the students to hold, set the fronds on fire, and told the students to jump.
  4. [8]
    A year later, Mr Caldwell led another school trip to Vanuatu. Mr Caldwell again allowed some students to travel in the tray of a truck. Some students also travelled in the back of a utility. The group again used boats that were not equipped with safety devices. The group went swimming near the cliff. Mr Caldwell told the students that, “as a school we can’t let you jump but if you want to do it, it’s your responsibility.” Some students then went cliff jumping. Again, the itinerary had not given warnings to parents about these aspects of the trip.
  5. [9]
    Meanwhile, in February 2013, Mr Caldwell had led a school group on a two-day bushwalking camp in the Lower Portals area of the Mount Barney National Park. There had been considerable rain in the preceding days. On the first day, the group parked their vehicles at the carpark and walked in to the campsite. This involved crossing Mount Barney Creek. They set up camp at the campsite and stayed there overnight. It was a wet and windy night. The next day Mr Caldwell led most of the participants on a long hike. A small group consisting of a teacher, a parent, and three students remained at the campsite. The plan was that this group would walk back to the carpark, and the teacher would drive around to the end-point of the hike and ferry the hiking party back to the carpark.
  6. [10]
    Events did not proceed according to plan. The creek had risen, making it riskier to cross. The teacher in the small group fell while crossing and was swept 10-15 metres downstream. He made it to the other side and then helped the parent across. The parent felt it was too risky for the three students to cross, so they remained on the campsite side of the creek. The parent then phoned her husband for help. She and the teacher did not have any means of contacting Mr Caldwell.
  7. [11]
    Meanwhile, after several hours of hiking, Mr Caldwell realised that the hiking party would not be able to complete the hike. So he decided they would head back to the campsite and then on to the carpark. Before starting back, they made a side-trip to get a better view. Mr Caldwell allowed a parent and seven students to opt out of the side trip. That sub-group did not have a map or any communications equipment, and became lost for a couple of hours before finding their way back to the campsite.
  8. [12]
    Eventually, everyone except the teacher and the parent who had crossed the creek, was assembled on the campsite side of the creek. By this time, the creek was over waist height, flowing fast, and still rising. Mr Caldwell wanted to carry the students across on his shoulders, but some of the parents strongly objected to this proposal. They had already called the police. In the late afternoon police and a State Emergency Service crew arrived. By this stage there were strong winds and heavy rain. Most of the students did not have raincoats. The SES set up a rope and pulley system to convey the party across the creek. The group did not make it back to the carpark until 9.30 pm. The SES provided food and drinks. The school group’s own food supplies by this time were down to a few items of salad.
  9. [13]
    The College says that the hike could never have realistically been completed in a day. Overall, the College submits, the camping trip was inadequately planned and poorly executed. The problems included that Mr Caldwell did not have appropriate qualifications or experience; he went ahead with the trip despite adverse weather conditions; he took no steps to prevent students drinking untreated water from the creek despite warnings on the National Parks website; the group had inadequate equipment and insufficient food for contingencies; and there should have been briefings for unexpected events.
  10. [14]
    The final incident occurred in October 2013 when the school held a science fair for students and families. A 13-year-old student put on a ‘rocket candy’ display. This involved igniting small containers of substances including potassium nitrate, magnesium and copper. This produced flames up to 3 metres long, and shot sparks up to 10 metres. The student positioned the containers so that they sent the flames and sparks away from spectators, who were standing as close as 2 metres from the containers. There was a bucket of water nearby “in case of a spit burn or anything catching on fire”. Mr Caldwell permitted the student to conduct the display in these conditions, without wearing any safety equipment such as goggles, gloves or a laboratory coat, or issuing such equipment to spectators. The College points out that such equipment should be used when handling such materials in this way. The College also says the bucket of water was an inadequate fire fighting measure in the circumstances.
  11. [15]
    The next school newsletter included a photograph of the rocket candy display, with a comment by Mr Caldwell that parents should keep an eye on their children if they tried this at home.

Is a ground for disciplinary action established?

  1. [16]
    Mr Caldwell exposed students and others to a variety of risks. Some of the risks might have been regarded as unremarkable on a school outing a generation or two ago, but they are not reasonable by today’s standards. Fortunately, nobody was injured.
  2. [17]
    The College submits that Mr Caldwell’s conduct makes him not suitable to teach. Mr Caldwell does not dispute this. He says, and the Tribunal accepts, that as a result of his experience in adventure-style activities, he became over-confident in his abilities. He acknowledges that some parents became concerned for the safety of their children.
  3. [18]
    Mr Caldwell demonstrated poor judgment. As a principal, he should have demonstrated wise leadership. He behaved in ways that fell short of the standard of behaviour generally expected of a teacher. He is therefore not suitable to teach.[2] A ground for disciplinary action therefore exists.[3]

What disciplinary action should be taken?

  1. [19]
    The purpose of disciplinary action is not to punish a teacher. Instead, it is to further the objects of the legislation. These include upholding the standards of the teaching profession, maintaining public confidence in the profession, and protecting the public by ensuring that education is provided in a professional way.[4] It is essential that persons registered as teachers do not pose a risk of harm to children.[5] Although punishment is not the aim, deterrence is a relevant consideration: the sanction imposed must provide “general deterrence to the members of the teaching profession and specific deterrence to further irresponsible conduct by the teacher in question”.[6]
  2. [20]
    Mr Caldwell has been subject to interim orders made by the Tribunal on 9 July 2014 restricting and regulating his involvement in outdoor school activities. It is undisputed that he has complied with these orders.
  3. [21]
    Various disciplinary sanctions are available.[7] The College submits that the Tribunal should suspend Mr Caldwell’s teacher registration for 12 months, with the suspension wholly suspended for two years. The College also submits that restrictions should remain in place around Mr Caldwell’s involvement in outdoor school activities during that time.
  4. [22]
    Mr Caldwell says that in July 2014 he attended an “education sector risk management workshop focussing on excursions and travel with an emphasis on Overseas Travel”. He says he led the school’s annual mission trip to Vanuatu in 2014 without incident, and that he has put in place a variety of measures to enhance the safety of students on excursions. The Tribunal accepts this evidence. Mr Caldwell’s solicitors submit that a six-month period of suspension, suspended for one year, would be adequate and appropriate. The solicitors point to the lack of any sinister motive on the part of Mr Caldwell, his cooperation in the disciplinary process, his remorse and insight, and the steps he has taken “towards better risk management practice in the school”.
  5. [23]
    On balance, the Tribunal considers that an adequate and appropriate sanction consists of a six-month period of suspension, suspended for 12 months, together with restrictions on Mr Caldwell’s ability to run excursions and other risky activities during that 12-month period. The Tribunal believes that Mr Caldwell has learnt from his mistakes. The disciplinary sanction will help to ensure that future events are safely managed.

Footnotes

[1]Education (Queensland College of Teachers) Act 2005 (Qld) Chapter 6.

[2]Education (Queensland College of Teachers) Act 2005 (Qld) s 12(3)(a).

[3]Ibid s 92(1)(h).

[4]Ibid s 3(1).

[5]Queensland College of Teachers v Genge [2011] QCAT 163 at [12].

[6]Queensland College of Teachers v Brady [2011] QCAT 464 at [55].

[7]Education (Queensland College of Teachers) Act 2005 (Qld) s 160(2).

Close

Editorial Notes

  • Published Case Name:

    Queensland College of Teachers v Jason Caldwell

  • Shortened Case Name:

    Queensland College of Teachers v Caldwell

  • MNC:

    [2015] QCAT 229

  • Court:

    QCAT

  • Judge(s):

    Member Kanowski, Member Dr Cullen, Member Lindgren

  • Date:

    24 Jun 2015

Appeal Status

Please note, appeal data is presently unavailable for this judgment. This judgment may have been the subject of an appeal.

Cases Cited

Case NameFull CitationFrequency
Queensland College of Teachers v Brady [2011] QCAT 464
1 citation
Jump To
Cite 1 - [2011] QCAT 464
Queensland College of Teachers v Genge [2011] QCAT 163
1 citation
Jump To
Cite 1 - [2011] QCAT 163

Cases Citing

Case NameFull CitationFrequency
Queensland College of Teachers v Teacher HFE [2019] QCAT 2152 citations
1

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