The pace of legislative and regulatory activity over the past 12 months has shown that reform is definitely on the agenda for schools across Australia. Shaped by the forces of inquiries and law reform, schools, their governors and their executive teams have had to deal with a wide range of regulatory changes and external events impacting upon their operations.
One of the most significant changes in 2014 was the introduction of the new privacy laws. We reported that before their commencement, 80% of independent schools were not ready for the new laws. Given that breaches of this law have the potential to cause major reputational damage and have even cost some schools financially (such as in the case of one Brisbane school fined $7,500) schools should be aware that the new privacy laws are here to stay, and should demand a high level of attention. Some changes that schools are required to make were helpfully summarised by privacy law expert David Griffiths in his article '10 steps to ensure compliance with the new Privacy Laws'.
Data handling, especially in this digital age, is also a topic that should be on the mind of school administrators. With these new privacy laws came a specific reminder from the Information Commissioner that cyber attack threats on data are an issue for school boards, as much as they are an issue for ICT administrators.
Our whitepaper on the new privacy laws is good summer holiday reading for those who need to remind themselves of the impact of the privacy laws on non-government schools. Or you can view the CompliSpace privacy for non-government schools webinar.
The work of the Child Abuse Royal Commission continues to publicise issues affecting all schools. The Royal Commission has made its significant interim report, giving us a précis of what is to come. Its work has now be extended to December 2017. For schools, the upshot of this extension is that whilst it may take a little longer for the Royal Commission's recommendations to come into force, ultimately the impact of changes to schools is likely to be greater over time.
Victoria has lead the way on child protection reforms. It has introduced reforms that will mandate that schools create 'child-safe' environments - practices, buildings and policies that minimise the risk of child sexual abuse. Victoria has also moved ahead of other states by making it a specific offence to fail to report child abuse, in addition to making it an offence for those in position of authority (school principals and administrators) to fail to protect a child from abuse. These changes are being implemented on a staggered basis.
2014 has seen an increased pace in registration reforms for non-government schools.
In Victoria, measures to address the threat of bushfires have been implemented through mandatory requirements in the registration guidelines. These changes come in addition to the anaphylaxis requirements that were announced in April 2014 by the Victorian Minister for Education.
Western Australia's registration guidelines were also updated at the start of 2014, bringing increased governance and student duty of care requirements.
For those in NSW, there have been a raft of changes. In May, BOSTES (the NSW Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards) made cosmetic changes to the NSW Registration Manual, but also foreshadowed governance changes based on 'properly accepted community norms for school governance’. The content of these changes, finally revealed in October, turned out to be quite detailed, requiring a whole set of governance policies, as well as mandatory professional development training. These reforms, as explained by a CompliSpace Board Briefing Paper, are worth noting by all schools.
In Queensland, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory registration requirements remain largely unchanged. South Australia is still the only state that does not have published registration guidelines.
As always, cyber security has featured prominently in government and community discussion. The Federal Government has moved ahead with its plans to introduce a Children's Safety E-Commissioner, with the introduction in early December of a Bill (the Enhancing Online Safety For Children Bill 2014 (Cth)) into Parliament.
Victoria has already made reforms in this area, dealing with the ubiquitous issue of sexting. Its new laws are designed to take a more precise approach to the issue of sexting amongst teens, ensuring that young people do not get caught up in strict child pornography laws. These reforms also deal with offences relating to indecently sending a person's intimate images.
This year we reported on multiple interesting court cases involving schools. Such cases involved allegations of defamation, negligence and, in some cases, criminal activity.
The landmark decision by the Victorian Supreme Court to award a teacher $1,279,751 in damages for teaching 'feral classes' received large media attention and was one of our most read articles. It also drew attention to the high rates of stress experienced by the teaching industry.
The awarding of $105,000 in damages to a school teacher defamed by a former student using Twitter provided a stark reminder to all members of the school community, and generally, of the dangers of social media and the importance of having clear social media policies in place.
Sadly, we also reported on legal proceedings involving schools being sued in relation to the deaths of students. The school camp death of a Victorian student who was swimming in a dam prompted calls for better camp safety and the Court investigation into the horse riding death of a NSW TAFE student drew attention to the importance of undertaking appropriate risk assessments.
Many of these cases are sad reminders of the importance of having proper risk management policies and procedures in place. Others are examples of how schools are not immune from the workplace health and safety issues which affect all employers. Although schools can learn from the mistakes made by others, from a reputation perspective, all schools would be hoping for a quiet 2015 on the litigation front.
We have enjoyed the positive feedback and responses from our readers in 2014. The issues and challenges facing schools continues to grow, and 2015 will no doubt bring about a multitude of new changes and events. Some of those will trigger legislative and / or regulatory change impacting upon non-government schools.
As some states have moved forward with increased registration requirements, others are sure to follow. Given the pace of change in many jurisdictions (WA, Vic and NSW in particular) it is likely that many schools will be faced with amendments to their registration standards in 2015. In South Australia, registration guidelines for non-government schools have no yet been introduced, but in all likelihood are set to be implemented in the not too distant future.
Governance requirements and training for principals, board members and administrators are sure to feature as various States continue the pace of reform. Professional learning for school governors in NSW is now mandatory as is the requirement for new board members to attend induction courses provided by "approved providers".
In Tasmania, where Working With Children Checks are currently in the process of being mandated for schools, 2015 will also be a year of change.
School Governance will continue to bring you news and informed commentary on these developments. The last edition of School Governance for 2014 will be published on 18 December 2014. We will return on 8 January 2015.