This is the final article in a four-part series on the role of the regulator in assessing school compliance. In this series, Craig D’cruz, National Education Consultant at CompliSpace, has explored the role of State and Territory education authorities in determining how schools meet their accreditation or registration requirements and the scope of the authorities’ powers.
There is absolutely no doubt that non-government schools who are members of the Association of Independent Schools (AIS) or Independent Schools (IS) (the Associations) in their State or Territory, are generally very happy with the services provided by these Associations and are often highly dependent upon them for these services. This is particularly notable for small schools that simply do not have the resourcing structure to provide HR managers, curriculum specialists, registration and compliance officers and so forth.
It is also known that the services provided are highly regarded, as are the Association staff, and that the member schools generally feel that their annual subscriptions are value for money in relation to the services and support received in all facets of governing, leading, caring and teaching in their schools.
The list of services is incredibly diverse and although there are many commonalities, there are too many to list. In addition, sitting above all of the individual associations is the parent body, the Independent Schools Council of Australia (ISCA). ISCA provides support and information for all of its member State and Territory associations and, therefore, for all schools affiliated with them. In particular, ISCA is the prime advocacy agent for independent schooling in Australia and it also provides advice relating to federal acts, regulations and Australia wide matters in general.
However, as a follow on from recent School Governance articles, it is the ability of the Associations to assist member schools with re-registration processes and on-going compliance issues that will be raised as the main topic of discussion within this article.
Each association provides a number of different services to assist their member schools with their on-going re-registration processes. The examples that follow are not prescriptive for each body, nor do they represent all that they do or indicate that not all States and Territories are involved in providing services in this area. These examples are designed to provide a ‘snapshot’ of the scope of offerings available.
AISNSW provides briefing sessions that ‘aim to assist schools with policy and curriculum requirements prior to being inspected for registration and accreditation in 2017’. AISWA ‘provides consultancy support and professional learning in Registration, Policy and Compliance’. ISV provides ‘compliance and accountability information related to government funding and registration requirements’. The AISACT provides links to the ACT non-government School Registration Manual which is ‘designed to assist applicants, proprietors, principals, registration coordinators and registration panels to understand the in-principle approval and registration processes’.
In addition to the myriad services associated with registration or compliance on their websites for school access, many of the associations also produce generic policies or, in most cases, policy guidelines for schools to access and use to ensure compliance with registration requirements. Most tend to produce the latter- policy guidelines.
The provision of guidelines, which may refer to the most recent legal or regulatory imperatives for schools, leaves the drafting of policies and resulting procedures solely at the discretion of each school. As a result, schools still need to keep abreast of the major legislative changes that take place from time to time and then upload the relevant guidelines from their association and use these as a reference to update their policies in order to remain compliant with their State or Territory regulator and any associated standards set by the Minister.
This process relies heavily upon the associations being aware of, and conversant in, all major legal or registration changes that involve their member schools and to have their guidelines updated and distributed to their member schools in a reasonably quick time frame. With the assistance of ISCA and their own legal advisors and industry experts, the associations generally do this extremely well. However, it should be noted that it is at the discretion of each association to decide what to develop and what to pass on to their member schools. It should also be noted that although the associations take great care in the development of and the content of the guidelines, they do not interpret changes to legislation nor do they produce 'ready to use' documents. The guidelines tend to be 'generic' simply because the associations cannot tailor them to suit each and every school's nuances and cultural identity.
At the school level, there is then a requirement to ensure that the updated association guidelines are received by the appropriate employee, that they are acted upon in a timely and efficient manner and that the relevant school policy is updated, approved and implemented as required. Conversations with school leadership staff provide anecdotal evidence that if these emails are sent to a 'generic' school email address (eg. Information @ School etc), they may or may not be acted upon if they are accessed at all. This risk of human error, for example missing the email with the relevant changes or filing the email because it is not understood or it arrives at an inopportune time, increases the overall, and much greater risk that a school's policies in that specific area will now be out of date and the school is now possibly non-compliant.
In addition, the procedures, if any, associated with the approved policy need to be updated and school staff must be advised of all changes and the new expectations in relation to behaviours associated with the policy change. It is this behaviour change that has the greatest effect on school culture. Policies and procedures that do not effect behaviour change do not generally have any measurable effect on cultural change.
There have been many publications regarding the effect of the registration requirements on schools and several that link the work of the associations in ensuring that their member schools are given opportunities to remain compliant. Interestingly, in a recent study,School Registration and School Improvement: Rasch Measurement of School Administrators’ Beliefs , the author sought to determine which school improvements were considered to be very easy or moderately easy due to registration requirements. One indisputable fact highlighted by this research is that the data shows evidence that school administrators in Western Australian independent schools believe that the prescribed formal registration requirements for their school results in school improvements. This study indicates that when the regulators develop and set clear guidelines in line with the standards as provided by the Minister, the resulting required changes at a school level are often inculcated into their culture because they result in ongoing changes in behaviour and a perceived overall improvement in school performance in general. So, there is light at the end of the registration tunnel.
So do the associations provide a valuable level of support for their member schools? The answer is clearly and, from many member schools, loudly yes. However, does it mean that schools remain compliant with legislation and standards solely on the basis of the support received? Then the answer is probably no. Regardless of the assistance provided by the associations, it remains the responsibility of each school to ensure that they consider the advice and implement changes as appropriate to remain compliant by meeting their minimum jurisdictional standards.
Schools are still responsible for keeping abreast of legislation and regulatory guidelines in order to remain compliant, registered and to be able to access ongoing per-capita funding. How does your school deal with the ever-evolving legislation and regulation and remain continually compliant?
