It was with some interest this week that we came across an article in the UK’s Daily Mail that lead with the headline: “Flights, diamonds and Chanel bags – private school parent’s gifts to teachers”.
The article was based on an investigation undertaken by Tatler Magazine which published an article “Classroom Corruption” and then followed it up by publishing links to the gifting policies of some of the UK’s leading independent schools.
Tatler’s investigation found extensive first hand accounts that some individuals within schools are accepting inappropriately extravagant gifts, such as cases of vintage wine and designer goods from Chanel, Prada, Mulberry and Tiffany.
The clear message is that these gifts are being used by parents to carry favour for their children in what was described as an ‘aggressive and manipulative’ gift culture amongst parents in private schools. Tatler suggests that accepting such gifts could see schools falling foul of the UK’s Bribery Act 2010.
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, Australia does not have comparable laws that apply domestically to private sector organisations, however the basic problem (or conflict of interest in governance terms) remains the same.
Interestingly, when Tatler wrote directly to all the independent schools in the Tatler Schools Guide asking for their Gifts Policy so that it could be published, the Independent Schools Council UK apparently advised schools not to respond to the request. Despite this advice many did respond and if you are interested you can access the policies of over 50 UK independent schools on the Tatler website.
Tatler has now launched a campaign urging families to put pressure on their schools to clamp down on competitive gifting.
Is this a problem in Australian schools? Does your school have a gifts policy which is clearly communicated to all staff and effectively enforced? Use the comments section at the bottom of the page to let us know your thoughts.