Primary Principals’ Executive
Child Safe schools – Professional
Conduct
October, 2014
Project Officer Role
Enhance staff understanding:
•
•
•
•
•
Protection of Children
Professional Conduct
Equal opportunity
Bullying and harassment; and
VIT Code of Conduct
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Australian Child Safety Context
• Last night 40,000 children did not sleep in their home
beds because it was not safe for the to do so
• Approximately 250,000 children and youth in the last 12
months had concerns for their safety and wellbeing
referred to Child Protection agencies
• 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 7 boys will be sexually abused as
children
• 95 percent of abused children are abused by someone
they know
• Most children and youth do not disclose their abuse for
many years if ever
Child Wise 2014 data
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
• The Convention is the foundation for child protection
• The fundamental principle is the recognition of children’s
rights as human rights
• The Convention sets out a framework of minimum
standards for the protection and wellbeing of children
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Legal Context
Duty of Care
In the education context this is a common law concept that refers to the
responsibility of staff to provide young children and young people with an adequate
level of protection against harm (from all forseeable risk of injury).
Organisations are morally and legally responsible for the wellbeing of all people involved
Organisations may be held liable for the failure to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent abuse
Organisation would be held to be negligent if their acts or omissions contributed to the abuse
•
Courts have found this standard of care to be very high.
•
Staff are required to ensure that the physical and emotional welfare of children
and young people is safeguarded and that their own behaviour is guided by this
duty of care within and beyond the education setting.
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Victorian Parliamentary Enquiry – Betrayal of Trust Outcomes
• Recommendation 10.1 re WWCC - That the
Government require all relevant NGO’s to report any
allegations of misconduct relating to children to the
Victorian Department of Justice WWC Unit.
• Awareness is also to be raised in organisations about
the importance of regularly reviewing the status of
WWCC by personnel, the need to adopt a range of
screening tools, and not to over rely on the WWCC.
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Recommendation 10.1 re WWCC
In its supportive response the Government comments that it will
• Strengthen WWCC compliance monitoring through oversight of child
safe standards
• Introduce a ‘reportable conduct scheme’, which would require
organisations with the highest level of responsibility for children to
notify the Commission for Children and Young People(CCYP) of all
allegations and findings of child abuse
• Expand the role of the CCYP in educating and building the capacity
of organisations to implement preventive strategies to minimise the
risk of child abuse, including appropriate use of WWCC and other
screening tools, with assistance from the WWCC Unit
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Recommendation 12.1 re future funding obligations
That the Government ensure that education
organisations that work with children have a minimum
standard for ensuring a child-safe environment, including
the following principles:
•
•
•
•
•
a statement of zero tolerance of criminal child abuse
principles to guide decisions
procedures on the employment of new personnel
a risk management approach
processes for reporting and responding to allegations of
criminal child abuse
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Recommendation 12.1 re future funding obligations
• In its supportive response the Government comments
that it will introduce new child safety standards for
organisations to be developed by the CCYP. They will
outline the types of policies and practices to ensure a
‘child safe’ environment is established and maintained
and will be mandatory for schools.
• A primary aim of this is to drive cultural change and a
focus on risk-management. The Government will grant
the CYYP a specific function to scrutinise child safety
systems in organisations such as schools.
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Recommendation 16.1 re Reporting Benchmarks
That the Government review the current DEECD
procedures for responding to allegations of all forms of
criminal child abuse within all Victorian schools and
identifies a benchmark that could be applied more broadly
to non-government schools.
• In its supportive response the Government will amend
legislation to implement a policy for responding to
allegations of child abuse as a condition of registration,
and the Minister for Education is empowered to
prescribe the content of such policies by way of a
Ministerial Order.
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
NEW Victorian Laws
• The laws reflect Parliament’s intention to provide better
protection for children. The laws ensure that a failure to
protect children, or a failure to report sexual abuse against
children, is to be understood to be of such seriousness to
amount to a criminal offence.
• The new laws add three new criminal offences to the Victorian
Crimes Act:
– Grooming;
– Failing by persons in authority to protect children from
sexual abuse;
– Failing to report to police sexual offences committed
against children under 16 years of age
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Grooming behaviour
• Inappropriately extending a relationship outside of work ( noting of
course that relationships out of work can so often be appropriate –
for example, where there is an existing friendship with the child’s
family or as part of normal social interactions in the community);
• Inappropriate personal communication (including emails, telephone
calls, text messaging, social media and web forums) that explores
sexual feelings or intimate personal feelings with a child.
• An adult requesting that a child keep any aspect of their relationship
secret, or using tactics to keep any aspect of the relationship secret,
would generally increase the likelihood that grooming is occurring.
• The new Victorian law on grooming is not limited however by any set
of examples.
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
NEW Victorian Law
FAILURE BY PERSONS IN AUTHORITY TO PROTECT
CHILDREN FROM SEXUAL ABUSE
Key Points
• Negligently failing to reduce or remove a substantial risk that a
person will commit a sexual offence against a child will be an
offence
• The offence applies to a person in a position of authority or
responsibility within an organisation that has children under its care,
supervision or authority where there is a substantial risk of a sexual
offence being committed by any person associated with the
organisation - (Teachers/Senior non-teaching staff)
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
New Law
• The offence applies to the failure to reduce or remove a substantial
risk that a child under 16 years will become the victim of a sexual
offence committed by an adult person associated with the
organisation
• A maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment applies
• The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry in Betrayal of Trust
recommended the creation of an offence of child endangerment to
impose criminal responsibility on those who understand that their
action or inaction may pose a substantial and unjustifiable risk of
harm to children but who disregard that risk and proceed to act
with knowledge of the risk.
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
NEW Victorian Law
•
FAILURE TO REPORT TO POLICE SEXUAL OFFENCES COMMITTED AGAINST CHILDREN UNDER
16 YEARS OF AGE
Key Points
•
The obligations apply to every adult in Victoria
•
Any adult who has sufficient information to form a reasonable belief that a sexual offence has been
committed against a child under 16 years of age and without a reasonable excuse fails to report the
information to Victoria police as soon as practicable will have committed an offence
•
The offence applies to any person over the age of 18 years with information that leads the person to form
a reasonable belief that a sexual offence has been committed in Victoria against a child under 16 by an
adult
•
It is not an offence if the person has a reasonable excuse, as set out in the Crimes Act, for not disclosing
the information or the victim is sufficiently mature (aged 16 or above) to make a decision and the victim
requests that details of the offending not be disclosed
•
Existing mandatory reporting obligations to the Secretary of the Department of Human Services continue
to apply
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Royal Commission Interim report
It is apparent that perpetrators are more likely to offend when an institution
lacks the appropriate culture and is not managed with the protection of children
as a high priority. They will manipulate people, processes and situations to
create opportunities for abuse. Everyone in a responsible role in an institution
must be able to recognise when perpetrators are manipulating or ‘grooming
children’. This requires education and training, and the development of an
appropriate institutional culture.
•
Grooming behaviours can be difficult to recognise or distinguish from
seemingly innocent actions. However, observable signs include increasingly
more intimate and intrusive behaviours, creating ‘special’ relationships with
particular children, or seeking to spend time with children alone or outside
the work role.
•
Parents and those caring for children need to understand the characteristics
of grooming behaviours.
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Royal Commission Interim Report
• We have been told that creating a child safe institution
begins with a clear, evidence-informed understanding of
the potential risks to children in that setting. For sexual
abuse, this requires basic knowledge on the
characteristics of abusers and victims, and how, when
and where abuse tends to occur.
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Royal Commission interim Report
• We are learning about the importance of staff
understanding their institution’s code of conduct. We
have been told that rules about adult–child and child–
child relationships should be unambiguous, widely
disseminated, and supported by staff supervision and
training. How the policies actually affect the behaviour
and experience of staff needs to be understood.
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Response
Possible CEOM responses
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
ACCREDITATION
• The Royal Commission’s Interim report talks of the value of
organisations being accredited as child safe. In this context it raises
the possibility of the creation of a national agency for such a
purpose. In our current context there may well be considerable
value in the CEOM and schools considering such accreditation
along with a planned pattern of ongoing auditing and this being
carried out by an outside, independent organisation. To do this
would even further enhance the commitment of Catholic education
in the Archdiocese to ensure schools are child safe. Undertaking
such accreditation through a non Church-based organisation would
demonstrate a clear public and transparent intent.
However, we have also received submissions that support the
development of accreditation schemes, and strengthening laws to
make institutions more child safe. (RC Interim report)
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Child Safe {Safeguarding} Team (CST)
• There is a clear statutory, moral, and in catholic schools – gospel,
duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This duty is
currently been strengthened in Victoria by the introduction of new
laws around child safety as a result of the Parliamentary enquiry –
Betrayal of Trust. School governors, principals and teachers are
seen as a core audience of these laws and the penalties that go with
them should the laws be breached.
• On the basis of the Interim report of the Royal Commission into
Institutional Child Abuse it is likely that existing laws, mandates and
requirements around ensuring child safety in community
organisations, and especially schools, will be further strengthened.
Developing a CST in each school can assist in better safeguarding
children and young people and assist Catholic schools to be, and
be seen as, effective child safe environments and to be more
publically transparent in achieving this.
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
CST role
The Royal Commission Interim Report noted:
Any institution working with children should have a suite of child
protection policies that includes:
• a statement of intent and commitment to child safety and
protection
• a statement of policy philosophy and purpose about child
protection and duty of care, clearly articulating the
organisation’s intention to act in children’s best interests
• definitions of what is meant by ‘child protection’, ‘child sexual
assault’, ‘child abuse’ and related terms, including reference
to laws where appropriate
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
CST role
• recruitment processes for staff and volunteers with welldefined position descriptions, clear selection criteria,
thorough reference checks, WWCCs, selection panels and
behavioural-based interview questions
• written rules on appropriate behaviour for staff contact with
children
• guidelines on how children should behave with each other
• reporting protocols and notification management
The major role of the CST is to oversight the above on behalf of
the school community. The responsibility for developing such
policies rests with the principal and professional staff with
support and guidance of the CEOM as the system authority.
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Continuous Improvement
In the context of SIF the reviewers sign off that the school is
meeting the VRQA minimum standards that are necessary for
ongoing registration. In a similar manner reviewers could sign off
that the school is meeting its child safe requirements in policy
and practice as mandated by CEOM/CECV and other regulating
agencies and Government itself. Already the Victorian
Parliamentary enquiry is talking of a register around reporting
abuse that would be mandated for schools and other groups
working with children and young people that would be in the
province of the Commissioner for Youth’s office. The Royal
Commission seems to be going down a similar path.
•
Another suggestion is a national body overseeing child
safety and sexual abuse ( RC – Interim report)
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Involve VIT
Currently all teachers in Victoria must undertake 20 hours of annual and approved
professional development in order to maintain basic consideration for ongoing registration.
Simon Davies – OPCEI Senior Officer, has raised the possibility that at least two hours of this
time should be devoted to content around Professional standards and the Code of Conduct
and matters around the safety of all students. The initial response suggests that a more formal
proposal at the Executive Director level to VIT could see a positive outcome that in our current
context would see the teaching profession and Catholic education very much on the front foot
in anticipating and perhaps even leading some of the outcomes of the Royal Commission. In
light of other recommendations in this paper it would clearly assist in upping the ante for staff
and schools to take even more seriously their obligation to be as fully child safe as possible.
•
It is apparent that perpetrators are more likely to offend when an institution lacks the
appropriate culture and is not managed with the protection of children as a high priority.
They will manipulate people, processes and situations to create opportunities for abuse.
Everyone in a responsible role in an institution must be able to recognise when
perpetrators are manipulating or ‘grooming children’. This requires education and training,
and the development of an appropriate institutional culture (RC - Interim report)
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Employment of New Personnel {Drafting document}
• A major outcome from the recommendations of the Parliamentary
Enquiry – Betrayal of Trust, is that work will be done in a number of
areas to ensure organisations working with children and in receipt of
funds from the Victorian Government must meet minimum standards
for ensuring a child safe environment. Employing new staff is one
area that will receive focussed consideration. The following
protocols reflect best practice across the world, particularly the UK
and Ireland. They also reflect some of the Royal Commission’s
observation in its case study around the process failures of the
YMCA in employing Jonathon Lord and the failures in holding him
accountable to the policy guidelines of that organisation.
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Pre Interview
• Safer practice in recruitment means thinking about and including
issues to do with child protection and safeguarding and promoting
the welfare of children at every stage of the process. Consequently,
CEOM policies around employment of staff in schools, particularly
teachers, should incorporate all aspects outlined below
Pre Interview
• Employment page of the School Website and/or applicant
information pack should make clear the school’s commitment to
safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.
Eg: This school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the
welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and
volunteers to share this commitment.
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Pre Interview
• Ensure the position description references the responsibility
for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children
• Ensure the person specifications (skill set required) makes
specific reference to suitability to work with children
• Provide advice for passing on to referees such that
independent professional and character references will
require assessment and questioning around an applicant’s
suitability to work with children
• Verify details of the personal and professional information
supplied by applicants
• Ensure a current WWCC or VIT registration is in place
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Interview
In addition to assessing the candidates’ suitability for the
position some face to face assessment should be sought of
the abilities to safeguard and promote the welfare of
children. Areas that should be explored:
• Motivation to work with young people
• Ability to form and maintain appropriate relationships and
personal boundaries with young people
• Emotional resilience in working with challenging
behaviour
• Attitudes to use of authority and maintaining discipline
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE
Post Interview
• References should not come from relations or people writing as
friends
• Open references (‘To whom it may concern’ type) should be treated
very cautiously as they may hint at some compromise arrangement
• Referees should be spoken to, notes taken and once a successful
applicant is appointed to a substantial (*) position, these notes
should be formulated and retained. Similar details should not be
kept for unsuccessful candidates.
• *On-Going positions / Replacement positions longer than a term.
(May be prudent to keep for all appointments and can be discarded
if the position is for a short time only.)
CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE MELBOURNE