The involvement of volunteers in schools is a critical part of every school community. In order to function, schools rely on a large number of people specialising in a range of areas from teaching to administration and medical services and volunteers can often be utilised in some of these areas. Although the contribution of volunteers should be celebrated, schools should also be mindful that they meet all their legal obligations in accepting the services of volunteers.

In particular, each State and Territory has laws in relation to child protection that create obligations regarding some volunteers.

Who is a volunteer?

In basic terms, a volunteer is a person who works for a school without receiving any financial reward. A more detailed formal definition of ‘volunteer’ is provided by Volunteering Australia: ‘volunteering is time willingly given for the common good and without financial gain.’

Volunteers can participate in a number of different areas within a school. Examples of common types of volunteer work in schools include:

• canteen/barbecue duty;
• assisting on excursions/school camps;
• coaching sports or other extra-curricular activities;
• reading or learning support
• membership of the school board; and
• traffic safety attendants.

Volunteers can be parents or carers of students at the school, school alumna or members of the broader school or local community.

Child protection laws: volunteers

The types of volunteer work listed above may be seen by the school as more informal roles, but they may be subject to strict regulations akin to the screening processes required for teachers. For example, every State and Territory recognises that in some circumstances, a volunteer may need a working with children check or equivalent clearance. Changes to South Australian rules were reported in our previous article: SA removes child-related screening requirements for parent volunteers. As obtaining a working with children check can be seen as an unnecessary inconvenience, it may act as a disincentive for parents and other people to volunteer their time for the school. As such, it is important for schools to understand when a background check may be necessary e.g. in instances where the volunteer has direct, unsupervised contact with children, and instances where a check may be unnecessary, e.g. when volunteering to help run a barbecue on a sports day.

In addition to background checks, child protection laws may require that the volunteer participate in training relating to mandatory reporting obligations and other legal requirements before beginning their work with the school. If this is the case, the school must also have record keeping procedures to verify that all volunteers have met the requirements. Specific rules relating to the supervision and job descriptions of volunteers may also be necessary to ensure schools comply with relevant laws.

As every State and Territory has a separate and distinct child protection legal framework, schools must look to their State or Territory laws, regulation and guidance materials in order to ascertain their obligations regarding volunteers.

Governance requirements for ‘responsible persons’

The volunteer members of a school’s board or governing body must also be mindful of the governance obligations which apply to their roles under legislation and regulations. In addition to upholding duties prescribed under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) or similar legislation (such as State or Territory associated incorporations legislation), volunteer board members may also have additional compliance obligations as ‘responsible persons’ under non-government school registration guidelines.

For example, in NSW, the NSW Registered and Accredited Individual Non-government Schools Manual and the NSW Registered and Accredited System Non-government Schools Manual (NSW Registration Standards or Standards) impose multiple obligations on those persons who meet the definition of a ‘responsible person’ (see our previous article for more information on the definition).

Such obligations include:

• the completion of 12 hours of professional learning over each three year period from the time of commencing as a responsible person;
• having in place and implementing policies and procedures in relation to dealing with a conflict of interest; and
• having in place and implementing policies and procedures for financial management including a register of all related party transactions.

We have written multiple articles on the governance requirements in the Standards (most recently: New NSW Non-Government School Registration Standards Released) and a briefing paper is available here: Towards Better Governance: A Guide to the October 2014 NSW Non-Government School Registration Updates.

Volunteer management in schools

Legal obligations, especially in the area of child protection, can be confusing for schools, given the complexity and changing nature of the laws in question. However, volunteer programs within schools can be extremely important in ensuring the viability and smooth running of various groups and initiatives. In order to balance the benefits of volunteering with the importance of legal compliance, schools should develop a comprehensive volunteer management plan which clearly outlines all policies and procedures that relate to volunteers. This can include:

• a volunteer register with contact details;
• working with children check policy;
• volunteer orientation and training;
• workplace health and safety obligations; and
• incident or complaint management.

The Volunteering Australia website provides information on State and Territory volunteering obligations and helpful resources.