By Ric Stevens, Open Justice reporter of 
A teacher censured for "unjustified use of force" after taking earphones out of a student's ear has failed to have the courts overturn his disciplinary finding of serious misconduct.
The Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal found at an earlier hearing that the teacher had removed the earphones "unexpectedly and recklessly" which amounted to serious misconduct. Photo: 123rf
Gregory William Robinson was a relief teacher who tried to stop two students listening to music during his Year 10 mathematics class in October 2019.
The school where this happened has been redacted from court documents.
The students were sharing bud-type earphones. Both of them were moving to the music and one of them was bumping and drumming on the desk.
That student, identified as Student A, defied Robinson's request to stop.
Robinson removed the earbud from Student A's ear and it broke. There was a verbal altercation and Robinson left the classroom to get another teacher.
The school principal made a mandatory report to the Teaching Council, which referred to a "conflict of evidence" about whether Robinson had hit Student A, a Court of Appeal judgement said.
The Teaching Council's complaints assessment committee found there was insufficient evidence to prove that Robinson had hit the student, but it brought two charges against him for removing and breaking the earphones, and "failing to de-escalate the situation".
The Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal later found that Robinson had removed the earphones "unexpectedly and recklessly".
It considered this amounted to serious misconduct because it was likely to affect the student's wellbeing, it reflected badly on Robinson's fitness to be a teacher, it might bring the teaching profession into disrepute, and it was "an unreasonable and unjustified use of force".
The parties agreed, however, that Robinson did not intend to break the earphones.
The tribunal also found that Robinson had failed to de-escalate the situation, which amounted to misconduct but not serious misconduct.
It censured him and placed conditions on his employment for two years.
Robinson appealed the tribunal's decision to the District Court on a variety of grounds including procedural flaws, errors of fact and law, and the approach to determination of penalty.
He lost on those counts, although the issue of costs was sent back to the tribunal.
Robinson then tried to have the matter taken to the Court of Appeal, where Justice Brendan Brown declined him leave to appeal on various grounds.
The censure remains recorded on Robinson's online listing on the teachers' register, which also indicates that his registration has recently expired.
* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
