On 11 March 2015, the WA Department of Education Services (the DES) released the 2015 'Registration Standards and Requirements' (the Registration Standards) for non-government schools in Western Australia. The timing of this release is in line with the usual yearly updates to the Registration Standards, which have been published since 2004.

Despite the sound and fury of a legislative amendment to the School Education Act 1999 (WA) (the Education Act), the changes to the Registration Standards are only minor. Although the amendments to the Education Act gave the DES the power to create Registration Standards with respect to 'arrangements for preventing child abuse at schools and for responding to any such abuse which may occur', it did not significantly update these requirements.

In any case, it is important to carefully review your school's registration to ensure that it complies with the 2015 Registration Standards.

The non-government school registration regime

To register a non-government school in Western Australia, the Education Act requires that the school must fulfil certain statutory criteria, and it must satisfy standards that are determined by the Minister for Education. The standards are determined by the Minister for Education under section 159 of the Education Act. Under section 160 of the Education Act, the renewal of a non-government school's registration is dependent on a finding that 'the school will observe' the Registration Standards.

The changes to the Registration Standards

The 2015 update to the Registration Standards means that your school must make subtle, but important changes to its registration processes. The 2015 changes to the Registration Standards update the following criteria:

• 1. Governance and Accountability;
• 2. Student Learning;
• 3. Curriculum;
• 4. Level of Care; and
• 10. Time for Instruction.

The remaining 7 criteria in the Registration Standards remain unchanged.

In summary, the new changes are:

Criterion 1 - Governance and Accountability

The main changes to this criterion include updated references to the implementation of the National Quality Standard for Early Childhood Education and Care (the NQS) to account for the 2015 NQS requirements.

There has also been an update to the requirement to notify the DES of any critical incidents. The Registration Standards now specify that notifications of critical incidents should be made 'as soon as it is practicable, and in any event, within 48 hours of the incident'.

Criterion 2 - Student Learning - child protection protective behaviours curriculum

The phrase 'with a view to strengthening child protection in non-government schools' has been added into this criterion. This is in the context of the existing requirement that 'a protective behaviours curriculum is to be included as part of the School Improvement Plan and implemented as part of the Health and Physical Education Curriculum'.

The new wording adds emphasis to, but does not substantially change, the requirement to teach the protective behaviours curriculum.

Criterion 3 - Curriculum - updated curriculum requirements

The references to the curriculum requirements for schools in 2015 have been updated throughout this criterion. This will require schools to update their school curriculum plans and 'demonstrate' the implementation of subjects in accordance with the WA and Australian Curriculum requirements (previously they were just required to 'demonstrate significant progress towards' the implementation of required subjects).

Criterion 4 - Level of Care - corporal punishment prohibition

The 2015 Registration Standards require that, for the 'very rare' cases of schools that use corporal punishment, they should 'progress towards the use of alternative behaviour management strategies' in the face of a looming legislative ban on the practice. The West Australian reports that only one school in WA currently uses corporal punishment.

Criterion 10 - Time for Instruction - hours allocated for instruction

This criterion contains a minor update to reflect the fact that the Minister for Education may allow a school to vary the compulsory allocation of hours for instruction for pre-primary students.

Changes not reflected in the update

The new Registration Standards do not address the various governance requirements which were introduced in the Education Act earlier this year (outlined in our previous article). These will presumably be assessed against the legislation, rather than the Registration Standards. Schools will have to look to section 160 of the Education Act for the specific requirements.

Although it was expected that the 2015 Registration Standards would bring an update to child protection requirements (given that the Education Act was amended), there are no changes to the current child protection requirements in the Registration Standards. The obligation to develop child protection policies, including those that refer to and are consistent with, mandatory reporting requirements, remains the same. That obligation includes the need for a non-government school to have a child protection policy that includes procedures 'for safeguarding students from harm'.

However, the legislative changes leave open the possibility that further child protection changes will occur in future updates. It is likely that this will occur when the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse reports and gives its recommendations in 2017.