The SA Council for Educators (Sace) has seen a sharp rise in complaints against teachers - receiving 586 complaints in the 2014/15 financial year against teachers, compared to 283 the year before.
According to News 24 - the bulk of these had to do with teachers using corporal punishment.
"The second category of complaints is for sexual offences against learners," CEO Raj Brijraj.
Unprofessional conduct - such as mismanagement, fraud or violence against other teachers came third.
Brijraj says that despite the rise in complaints, actual convictions have fallen.
18 teachers have been temporarily suspended pending a hearing, and another 10 have been indefinitely struck off the teacher roll and will never be able to teach again.
According to Brijraj 80% of those teachers who have been struck off - were for sexual misconduct. About half of the temporary suspensions were due to the teachers using corporal punishment.
"We want to send a strong warning to educators that corporal punishment is not acceptable as a way of disciplining learners."
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