The Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW (BOSTES) has introduced changes to the Registered and Accredited Individual Non-government Schools (NSW) Manual and Registration Systems and Member Non-government Schools (NSW) Manual (the Manuals).

The update is given immediate effect by the Official Notice, dated 21 January 2016.

Previous updates to the Manuals have focussed on increased governance requirements for non-goverment schools (see our 2014 Briefing Paper).

The January update continues this trend for schools by introducing key changes such as:

• the need to have their Teacher Accreditation Authority (TAA) approved by the BOSTES under a new regulatory framework;
• annual education for staff relating to child protection legal responsibilities;
• new policy requirements for schools that are a member of a system; and
• altered recording, training and notification requirements relating to ‘responsible persons’.

Teacher Accreditation Authority

In October 2015, the BOSTES announced a new regulatory framework for approving TAAs, in accordance with changes made in 2014 to the Teacher Accreditation Act 2004 (NSW). A TAA is a corporation or an approved legal entity which is typically the proprietor of the school. The TAA appoints an authorised delegate to act on its behalf. The BOSTES advises that:

• in systemic schools, the authorised delegate will be an officer appointed by the Diocese; and
• in independent schools, the authorised delegate will be the principal.

The Manuals now require schools to ‘document their arrangements for having a TAA that has been approved under the BOSTES’ Guidelines for the Regulation of Teacher Accreditation Authorities for Non-government Schools and Early Childhood Education Centres (the Guidelines) as required according to the transition period approved by the BOSTES.’

The transition period will expire at the end of 2020, giving schools time to adjust to these requirements. By then, all schools must have a TAA approved under the TAA Guidelines.

A school’s TAA approval period will align with its (re)registration period of 5 years. For example, if a school is renewing its registration in 2016, it must have a TAA approved under the TAA Guidelines to commence from 1 January 2017.

Despite the existence of the transition period, a school should not leave the work required to meet the TAA requirements until registration renewal time. This is because a school must meet substantial policy and procedural requirements, set out in sections 4.1 to 4.6 of the Guidelines, to comply with the approval requirements for its TAA.  For example, a TAA must have and implement policies and procedures for:

• mitigating the risk of a conflict of interest in the TAA’s processes and decision making and for managing any conflicts of interest that arise in exercising the TAA’s authority; and
• handling complaints and grievances about the TAA’s accreditation process from teachers and other stakeholders in the teacher accreditation process.

As part of the 2014 changes to the Manuals, schools must already have versions of such governance policies in place in relation to the dealings of their ‘responsible persons’. Although a school’s existing policies may be able to be used as guidance in relation to the creation of similar policies for their TAA compliance framework, schools must ensure that their TAA policies and procedures specifically meet the detailed requirements in the Guidelines.

Child Protection Training requirements

Previously, schools were required to inform:

• staff who have direct contact with students of their legal responsibilities relating to child protection, mandatory reporting and other relevant school expectations; and
• staff mandatory reporters of their obligations and the process the school has in relation to mandatory reporting.

Under the new changes, this information needs to be communicated on an annual basis. The addition of this word introduces a temporal aspect to the existing requirement and suggests that a school’s policies and procedures in relation to creating a safe and supportive environment should include annual staff training on child protection obligations.

Similar changes were made to the sections of the Manuals relating to boarding facilities. All staff involved in the supervision of boarders must be trained annually on their child protection obligations.

Systemic schools must now meet the same governance requirements as individual schools

The 2014 changes to the Individual Non-Government Schools (NSW) Manual introduced new requirements to implement policies and procedures for the ‘proper governance’ of the schools. Those requirements included the responsible persons at a school creating and implementing policies and procedures addressing:

• conflicts of interest;
• related party transactions; and
• external independent audits of financial statements.

In contrast, in the 2014 Registration Systems and Member Non-Government Schools (NSW) Manual, systemic schools were only required to have policies and procedures in place that were ‘similar’ to those required for individual schools.

Now, systemic schools are required to have the same policies and procedures as individual schools, removing the ambiguity around the word ‘similar’. The only variations relate to the fact that in systemic schools, those policies and procedures may also apply to and be exercised by the proprietor, the approved authority for the system, the principal (or equivalent) and/or another identified role or body.

Section 5.9.3 of 2015 Registration Systems and Member Non-Government Schools (NSW) Manual introduces the same requirements for systemic schools that have applied to the non-systemic schools since the October 2014 update.

Responsible persons notification, training and reporting requirements

Another interesting change is the introduction of a requirement that the responsible persons of a school must notify the BOSTES of the details of their responsible persons.

Under the Manuals, from 1 July 2016, the responsible persons of a school must have in place and implement policies and procedures in relation to the online notification to the BOSTES of certain details of such responsible persons including their:

• name;
• role; and
• date of commencing and ceasing as a responsible person,

within twenty-eight (28) days of the changes being made.

The professional learning to be completed by a responsible person must now constitute 12 hours, to be completed over each three year period from the time of commencing as a responsible person. Previously, the requirement was to complete four hours of training each year. The professional learning must now be specifically tailored to a ‘school context’, rather than just addressing corporate governance issues generally.

Further details must also be added to the responsible persons’ Register of Professional Learning, including evidence of completion of professional learning. Schools must retain evidence of each entry into the Register for a minimum period of 7 years.

What do these changes mean for your school?

Although these changes add to the already considerable weight of the compliance burden shouldered by schools, those governing bodies who are already following best practice governance principles should not encounter anything unfamiliar.

Schools should however take note that the new policies and procedures required by the TAA approval process require schools to understand their obligations and to develop new policies and procedures to meet their approval requirements.

Also the new obligation for responsible persons to notify the BOSTES of certain details requires a crucial first step – understanding who at the school is a ‘responsible person’. This is a step which to date, some schools have not done and one which cannot be overlooked for much longer.