‘Incompetent’ Brighton teacher who failed to show up to own hearing banned from teaching

The development sessions had to be self-funded and focused on treating students with “courtesy and dignity”, creating safe learning environments and engaging professionally with the school community such as parents.

Any school who employed him for more than four weeks was also required to provide a report to the VIT about his classroom conduct and professional knowledge.

But more than a year after Trinh agreed to the conditions, the teaching watchdog was forced to chase down the teacher for failing to comply. He didn’t submit any reports or documents and did not respond to the facilitator of the program who contacted him.

“The respondent did not meaningfully engage with the institute during this time,” the panel was told.

Despite repeated attempts to contact the teacher, the VIT was unable to reach Trinh at his address or by phone or email. Trinh neither accepted nor contested the facts of the case against him.

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At the hearing, a lawyer for the VIT said Trinh showed “no remorse, no contrition, no insight” over his conduct.

There was also no extenuating circumstances that would affect his ability to comply with the action, the lawyer said.

The panel was told the teacher “deliberately ignored” the conditions for two-and-a-half years, but kept his registration.

In its decision, publicly published in December, the VIT criticised Trinh for his behaviour.

“The teacher’s failure to comply with the conditions was not an isolated incident,” it said.

It said he “knowingly and deliberately” ignored the body despite trying to renew his teaching registration.

“The teacher may have undertaken work as a teacher without addressing the issues which gave rise to the imposition of the conditions on his registration to the detriment of the learning of any students he may have taught,” the VIT said.

Trinh has not worked at a government school since 2018 “over concerns related to unsatisfactory performance”, the Education Department said.

The VIT panel found Trinh was guilty of serious misconduct because he failed to comply with registration conditions and decided imposing additional conditions would be futile.

“There is no evidence that he has any insight into the seriousness of his conduct nor whether he would be willing to fulfil any such conditions, given his continuing disregard for the conditions imposed and his utter failure to fulfil previous conditions and to engage with the [VIT].”

It cancelled his registration and disqualified him from reapplying for registering as a teacher for the year.

This masthead attempted to contact the teacher, but was unable to reach him.

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