Published 10 Jul 2025
Registration and regulatory compliance update
The Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) receives information, notifications and complaints about registered teachers from various sources – this includes Victoria Police, Working with Children Check Victoria (WWCCV), Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP), employers and members of the public. Because there are now more mandatory reports (especially under the reportable conduct scheme) and limited staff to handle them, the number of cases VIT is dealing with has grown significantly.
Only around 1% of registered teachers are subject to a complaint or notification from a co-regulator, employer or member of the public and therefore the vast majority of teachers continue to comply with their regulatory and child safety obligations.
The VIT looks at each new case to see how serious the risk to children is. The most serious cases are dealt with first. If a teacher is seen as an immediate and serious risk to children, VIT can suspend their registration right away. Currently, 17 teachers are suspended while investigations are ongoing.
In other cases where the alleged conduct is worrying but not serious enough for suspension, VIT still investigates. We work with schools, early childhood centres, and the police to handle these cases and keep children safe.
For cases that seem to involve a lower or moderate risk, VIT waits for the school or early childhood centre to finish their own investigation before deciding whether to take any action. At the moment, there are 921 cases waiting for more information from other organisations.
While VIT has been focusing on the most serious cases that pose a risk to children, it also understands that long delays can affect the teachers involved. To better manage both priorities - protecting children and reducing the backlog of older cases - VIT has started taking steps to improve the situation including
- increased staffing of VIT's Professional Conduct Branch
- introduced processes to expediently assess and close low-level matters
- commissioned an independent review of VIT processes.
The impact of these changes is already being seen, for example in improved completion rates, and further improvements will be made at the conclusion of the independent review to address any preventable delays to more swiftly make safe and proportionate regulatory decisions.