On this page

About us

Related pages

logo

About us

Save as PDF 

The Teachers Registration Board of Tasmania is an independent statutory authority established under the Teachers Registration Act 2000 (the Act).

Our areas of strategic operation are:

  • teacher registration
  • initial teacher education program accreditation
  • building the profession
  • professional conduct
  • governance and accountability
  • communication and feedback.

Our role

The Board has a legislated role to act in the best interest of students, making teacher registration one of our key functions. Registered teachers and people granted special permission to teach (such as a Limited Authority to Teach) have been determined to be of good character, competent, and fit to teach in Tasmanian schools. 

The value of registration

As in other fields where professionals must register to practice, such as medicine, law, and nursing, teacher registration highlights the unique professional qualifications, knowledge, skills, and ethical standards required to be a practicing teacher.

Registration upholds community confidence in our profession, by ensuring that Tasmanian students are taught by professional educators who are:

  • appropriately qualified and observe a code of professional ethics
  • competent and maintain professional learning
  • of good character, and fit to be teachers
  • proficient in the English language at a professional level.

Registration also:

  • promotes a sense of professional belonging
  • contributes to child safety
  • enables collaboration between teaching professionals
  • influences leadership of the teaching profession
  • contributes to respect for, and value of the profession
  • protects the public and the profession by ensuring that only approved teachers work in schools.

Our vision, mission, values, and principles

Our vision is that Tasmanian students are taught by high-quality teachers.

Our mission is to regulate for the wellbeing and best interests of Tasmanian students, thereby enhancing community confidence in our profession.

Our values are integrity, empathy, and excellence.

Functions and key powers

Including teacher registration, the Board has 13 functions and four key powers under the Teachers Registration Act 2000.

The Board has established an office to which it appoints and employs a Registrar (the Executive Officer) and Board Officers (staff). We have also established committees composed of Board members and other suitable people. The Board Officers and Board committees both support the Board to perform our functions.

  • To register persons under this Act.
  • To grant limited authorities to persons under this Act.
  • To promote the teaching profession.
  • To investigate complaints made under this Act.
  • To conduct investigations, inquiries, and hearings for the purposes of this Act including, without limitation:
    • investigations into complaints
    • investigations to determine whether persons have contravened this Act.
  • If appropriate, to take disciplinary action under this Act in relation to persons who are or were registered teachers or holders of limited authorities.
  • To approve teacher education courses the successful completion of which satisfies a criterion for registration.
  • To develop and improve teaching standards.
  • To maintain a code of professional ethics for the teaching profession to undertake relevant reviews and research projects, and to make recommendations to the Minister in relation to the funding of those reviews and projects and the appointment of persons necessary to enable the successful undertaking of those reviews and projects, as appropriate.
  • To confer and collaborate with corresponding registration authorities for the purposes of:
    • ensuring effective exchange of information within Australia and New Zealand
    • promoting consistency in the regulation of the teaching profession within Australia and New Zealand.
  • To investigate and recommend the prosecution of offences against this Act.
  • Any other functions imposed by the Teachers Registration Act 2000 or any other Act.

Any person can make a complaint to the Board about the professional conduct of someone who is (or was) a registered teacher or the holder of a Limited Authority to Teach (LAT) in Tasmania. The Office of the Board can also receive notifications about conduct from employers, other registration bodies, and Tasmania Police. In these circumstances, we can undertake an inquiry into any matter of concern regarding a registered teacher or LAT holder.

Potential outcomes of an inquiry include:

  • issuing a ‘caution’
  • imposing a condition on a teacher’s registration
  • suspending a teacher’s registration
  • cancelling a teacher’s registration.

The Board can also suspend teacher registration or LAT before conducting an inquiry if it believes that the person poses a risk of harm to a student(s).