Australia: Male teachers fear accusations of sex offences

Article here. Excerpt:

'MARK COLVIN: There are claims that young men are turning away from teaching for fear of being falsely accused of child sex offences. The education union says it's been told that would-be male teachers are more reluctant to join the profession because of publicity over sex abuse in schools.

It follows the highly publicised Debelle inquiry which investigated the mishandling of a sex abuse inquiry at an Adelaide school. Meanwhile, male teacher numbers are continuing to fall.

Caroline Winter reports.

CAROLINE WINTER: The continual decline in male teachers in schools has been a serious issue nationally for some years. But the South Australian education union believes that trend has been exacerbated by false accusations of child sex offences.

David Smith is president of the SA branch.

DAVID SMITH: A number of young men have, or many of any age for that matter, have been put off, they've told us, by the potential litigation that there might be should there be some sort of vexatious, unfounded accusation against them.

CAROLINE WINTER: Education Department figures show that at June 2013, 56 South Australian schools didn't have a male teacher. The majority of those were primary schools and in country locations.'