Gloriavale teacher censured for striking student with vacuum cleaner pipe
A Gloriavale teacher has been censured after hitting a student with a vacuum cleaner pipe for making “an obnoxious remark”.
The New Zealand Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal has censured Malachi Faithful, a registered teacher at Gloriavale Christian School, for striking a 14-year-old student with a vacuum cleaner pipe in 2013.
The committee’s decision says Faithful picked up the pipe and swung it after the student made an “obnoxious remark”. It struck the child’s leg but caused no lasting physical injury.
Faithful apologised immediately to the class.
The student left the community in 2015 and complained to police in 2022. Faithful was suspended while the investigation took place and was charged with assault with a weapon.
He pleaded guilty in 2023 and was discharged without conviction, ordered to pay $1250 in emotional harm reparation, and returned to teaching.
The tribunal’s decision says Faithful’s conduct constituted physical abuse and adversely affected student wellbeing, regardless of the absence of lasting injury.
“Assaulting a child with an object is harmful to that child and other learners, but it also demonstrats that Mr Faithful had issue with self-regulation, classroom management and behaviour management,” it said.
The tribunal stopped short of cancelling Faithful’s registration because he showed he genuinely wished to continue to grow as a teacher and the conditions imposed would help address gaps in his insight into self-regulation and classroom behaviour management.
Conditions include that Faithful must inform any new employer of the censure for two years, complete a support programme for 12 months and teach under the supervision of a designated mentor who would report back to the Teaching Council.
It said ideally Faithful would be overseen by a person outside Gloriavale as a mentor.
Faithful asked the tribunal not to order him to pay costs, saying he had 10 children aged 18 months to 18 years, his wife was a full-time mother, and his income was shared with about 500 people in the Gloriavale community.
However, the tribunal said it was not satisfied that paying $3673 in costs would result in hardship.
Gloriavale Christian School had its registration as a private school cancelled by the Ministry of Education after concerns it was not providing a physically and emotionally safe environment for students. The school remains open under interim High Court orders while its judicial review challenge is heard.