On 10 October 2017, the Queensland Parliament passed the Education (Accreditation of Non-State Schools) Regulation 2017 which includes new training requirements that will take effect from 1 January 2018.

The changes to the Education (Accreditation of Non-State Schools) Regulation 2017 look minimal however the compliant implementation and reporting of the requirements can be more complicated than is obvious at first glance. For a table of comparison and further information, download this PDF Implications EAcred Changes

Implications for Non-State Schools

There are two major differences between the Education (Accreditation of Non-State Schools) Regulation 2001 and 2017. Working with Children legislation and annual training.

The section below will outline the key areas our auditors analyse to identify compliant implementation. Schools with these tools in place are more likely to have compliant data and systems.

More importantly, schools with these processes demonstrate more supportive, protective and confident behaviours during audit interviews.

1 – Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) Act 2000 (WWC)

Section 15 of the Education (Accreditation of Non-State Schools) Regulation 2017 now specifically requires that ‘a school must comply with the requirements of the … (b) The Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) Act 2000′.

Use this checklist to identify the documents and processes your school currently uses;

• Governance documents to support compliant implementation of the WWC legislation (policy, procedures and work instructions for the key personnel)
• Screening
  • Human resource management processes including a current Employee List
  • Council/board member recruitment processes
  • Volunteer management strategy and processes that include a current whole of school Volunteer Register and individual department registers such as Junior School, sport, co-curricular, music and in some cases P&F
  • Student accommodation services policy and processes (such as homestay, international exchange and all forms of billeting) and a current and comprehensive Student Accommodation Services Register to monitor frequency of use and a Homestay Register
• Maintenance of a compliant Employee Register, also known as the Blue Card Register
  • A register that identifies all employees and volunteers in regulated employment at the school

‘Regulated Employment’ includes unpaid volunteers regardless of whether the legislation requires the individual to apply for a Blue Card or Exemption Card. Parent volunteers appear in the Employee Register.

• Internal audit and reporting requirements
• Alerts and processes to monitor currency and renewals
• A Child and Youth Risk Management Strategy – renewed annually

Schools that operate Education and Care Services (Early Learning Centres and Outside School Hours Care) require a separate Blue Card Register and implement the WWC requirement somewhat differently from Schools.

How we can support your School

We provide WWC workshops and tools.

We undertake an independent audit of your School’s systems and data to report compliance and opportunities for improvement. We support you to refine your systems.

We provide on call mentor support to your School’s allocated WWC implementation team.

2 – Training

All staff must be trained in student protection processes annually (section 16 (4) (c)).

The checklist below forms a useful evidence list to support implementation;

• The requirement for annual student protection training is enshrined in policy and procedures, including;
  • assigning roles with the responsibility to create, organise, deliver, record and report each training event
  • that continued employment is reliant on compliance with the training requirements
• Ensuring that supply/relief staff are also trained
• Diligent attendance record maintenance and ensure back capture of those who have not yet attended
• Maintenance of a whole of school Training Register
• Report compliance to the leadership team

Training is a key element of the Child and Youth Risk Management Strategy which is also a requirement of the WWC legislation.

We know that training is more memorable and transferable when it is scenario based, relevant, collaborative and active. Student protection training should not be delegated to an untrained staff member such as a risk and compliance officer.

Section 16 (3) indicates that each school should have two allocated staff whom students can report to when they are concerned. We advocate allocating more than two people in most schools. These internal champions are chosen for approachability and diversity (for example, sport, music, boarding, junior school, middle school, senior school, male and female). Additional training can be provided to these people to provide them the skills and knowledge to support and train the rest of the school community. We have found these internal student protection champions provide other staff with the confidence to approach them with any concerns or observations.

The training can be developed for a system of schools for efficiency. The school champions attend a central workshop then go back to their own schools with the training material to teach.

We also advocate a rigorous, relevant scenario based student protection induction and annual renewal training for volunteers such as sport, co-curricular, homestay and junior school to give the volunteers the confidence to recognise and report concerns.

How we can support your School

We provide workshops

We provide train the trainer materials that can be used to efficiently teach the whole of school community

Online webinars for Safeguarding Our Children Support online members

 

The Safeguarding Our Children Support team assist Non-State Schools to create a resolute protective culture. Our findings as a result of WWC and student protection audits conducted over the last 4 years support the need for these recent changes. Students will benefit from schools that can demonstrate compliant implementation of the WWC legislation and 100% attendance at annual quality training sessions. We are here to assist.

This PDF will provide the above information and additional information necessary to explain the requirements to the leadership team and council. Implications EAcred Changes

Contact Yvette to discuss your School’s needs.