Relief teacher censured after touching homestay student's legs and kissing her
A New Zealand relief teacher has been censured by a disciplinary tribunal after admitting to inappropriate physical contact with a homestay student. The teacher has since resigned from his position and committed to ending his involvement in the homestay program.
Why it matters
This case highlights the ongoing risks and regulatory challenges regarding the safety of international students in private homestay arrangements.
A relief teacher had opened his home to international students for 15 years.
But after he caressed a young student's legs and kissed her on the forehead as he tucked her into bed, he told the Teacher's Disciplinary Tribunal he would no longer have homestay students in his home.
The teacher, who has name suppression, was investigated by the Complaints Assessment Committee and later appeared before the tribunal after the homestay student told her friends about the incident, initially believing it was normal.
Now the tribunal has censured the teacher, with chairman Tim Makenzie saying in a recently released decision that the teacher had also decided he would no longer teach.
"The simple point is that an elder male teacher has acted in this way toward a vulnerable female foreign child staying at his home.
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