Educational malpractice: legal cases and educators' views

Article

Teh, Mui-Kim. 2008. "Educational malpractice: legal cases and educators' views." Education Journal. 36 (1-2), pp. 137-152.

Authors
Article Title	Educational malpractice: legal cases and educators' views
ERA Journal ID	20044
Article Category	Article
Author	Teh, Mui-Kim
Journal Title	Education Journal
Journal Citation	36 (1-2), pp. 137-152
Number of Pages	16
Year	2008
Place of Publication	Shatin, Hong Kong
ISSN	1364-4505
Abstract	The notion of being negligently and legally liable for poor teaching that results in the failure of students being able to achieve expected educational outcomes is an unimaginable prospect. However, there is an emerging trend of legal proceedings being brought against teachers, blaming them for low scores in literacy, numeracy or even the failure to pass an examination. The duty implied on educators to ensure the educational well-being of their students and the breach of such duty is what is commonly termed in the literature 'educational malpractice' or 'educational negligence'. In this article, several cases relating to educational malpractice that took place in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia are reviewed, and the cases demonstrate that the courts are beginning to show a willingness to extend the tort of negligence to students' intellectual harm. The author then conducted a small-scale investigation to ascertain the views of school principals regarding this issue, with very interesting results.
Keywords	negligence; administrator attitudes; court litigation; foreign countries; educational malpractice; principals; teacher competencies; teaching skills; educational quality; legal responsibility; low achievement; teacher responsibility
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020	480506. Litigation, adjudication and dispute resolution
	480499. Law in context not elsewhere classified
	390402. Education assessment and evaluation
Public Notes	Chinese title : Jiaoyu Xuebao. Author Version not held.
Byline Affiliations	School of Law

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