The National Principles for Child Safe Organisations (National Principles) reflect 10 child safe standards recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. These National Principles aim to provide Australians with a national approach to creating organisational cultures that foster child safety and wellbeing in all child-related organisations. They have a broader scope that goes beyond child sexual abuse and into other forms of potential harm to children and young people.

CompliSpace previously explored the National Principles in a three-part series, focusing on the Implementation of the National Principles by States and Territories, Principle 1 and Embedding a Child Safe Culture, and Implementing the National Principles 2-10.

This article will focus on Principle 3 and how schools can practically and effectively embed it within the school community. Most of the information in this article comes from the podcast “Principle 3 – National Child Safe Principles Podcast (Family and Community Involvement)”, in which CompliSpace Principal Consultant in Child Protection Deborah de Fina and Bravehearts National Child Protection Training Manager Mathew Sinclair talk with Gayle Walters, past President and Chair of P&C Queensland. This article does not contain all the information in the podcast and does not seek to act as its substitute.

The Principle

Principle 3 (“Principle”) of the National Principles is that “families and communities are informed, and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing”. A child safe organisation recognises that families have primary responsibility for the upbringing of their child, and that they are best placed to advise on their child’s needs and capabilities. Although at a fundamental level, parents want to hear about the education program that schools are delivering, schools also need to involve parents in ensuring that their children are safe and healthy in all aspects while at the school or at school events.

This Principle also seeks to ensure that organisations involve communities in promoting child safety. Schools should engage with the communities that are relevant to the school, largely to ensure that the school is culturally safe.

Overall, this Principle means that families and communities should be involved in school decision-making processes. They should be able to provide their feedback about policies and practices and have their feedback genuinely considered. This is crucial because, as schools become hubs for a variety of activities and programs, they need to be safe spaces that provide the best opportunities for students, families, and community members.

Relevant Communities

Families and communities are inevitably connected, given that community groups can include the parents of students in a school. However, for the purposes of this Principle, there are also likely to be a wide range of different and distinct community groups that are relevant to each school and that may be impacted by school policies. They may include the school’s local community, specific culturally and/or linguistically diverse communities, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

How Schools Can Best Involve Families and Communities

Schools should ensure that families and communities are involved in the planning, implementation and review of policies and practices. For example, it is important that families and communities have a legitimate influence and input into the school’s strategic plan.

Below are a few examples of how schools can involve families and communities in their decision-making processes. This is of course not an exhaustive list, but a good place to think about how to meaningfully engage families and communities.

P&C and P&F Associations

Families and community members can be involved in school decision-making processes by joining Parents and Citizens (“P&C”) Associations. These are associations that work in partnership with a school and the community to promote the interests of the school, and facilitate its development and further improvement to achieve the best possible outcomes for students. Although P&C Associations notably assist with fundraising activities, they also provide feedback and advice on school policies and activities, assist in providing resources to enhance student outcomes and are involved in a variety of school activities including school functions, tuckshops and outside school hours care services.

They can be strong, legitimate bodies that are recognised by law. For example, the Queensland P&C Association is a statutory body that has a partnership agreement with the Queensland Department of Education and Training to support state schools. The equivalent for non-government schools is Parents and Friends (P&F) Associations.

It is becoming increasingly common for P&Cs and P&Fs themselves to have a strategic plan that aligns with a school’s strategic plan. While a school and a P&C/P&F are two different organisations, they have the one aim, allowing them to come together and work together towards the best outcome.

Information Nights

Most schools know that they will not always get all parents and community members to attend P&C and P&F meetings. Therefore, community nights and information sessions are important. They can be a useful way to get parents involved and start the wider conversation about how parents can continue being involved in the school in meaningful ways.

Community Liaisons

Given the different community groups that exist, a school’s relevant community may be made up of people who do not have a history or culture of being part of the conversations about child safety and wellbeing in schools. In these situations, schools need to be more proactive to enable all community groups to be included. It is important that a school considers how to make associations such as the P&C not as ‘scary’ so that a wider range of people may want to attend and/or to have multiple pathways for parents and relevant communities to be included, consulted and have influence.

One way to do this is to engage community liaisons. These are positions filled by people who understand how both the school and the specific community group works. That specific community group may be, for example, a culturally and/or linguistically diverse group. Having someone who has knowledge of how each works allows a bridge to be built so that barriers between the two can be broken down. This can then motivate people in these communities to come to more school functions and activities, and be more engaged with teachers and the school as a whole. Taking these small steps can allow schools to employ genuine methods to engage various communities in ways that are meaningful for them.

Benefits of Involving Families and Communities in Decision-Making

There are significant benefits to including families and communities in school decision-making processes, which is why this Principle was included as one of the National Principles.

Schools need to engage communities so that schools are aware of specific details that they may not otherwise know, such as cultural beliefs and practices that may be a barrier to children or parents raising concerns about child safety. By giving communities the opportunity to get involved and have their say, schools can appropriately diversify their policies and practices to meet the specific needs of their students.

Similarly, if a school successfully engages different community groups, it is likely that they will be able to gradually understand the community’s larger perspectives, and subsequently tie those in with the school’s own pillars of learning. By being included in these essential decisions, communities then have a stronger drive to push things forward while the school is culturally safe.

Schools also need to ensure that they engage parents effectively. This can be difficult, because there may be an educational and/or generational gap, particularly for parents who may not have had good school experiences. They may subsequently feel uncomfortable going into the school grounds and would not think to chat to the principal and be personally involved in the school. It is necessary to break down these barriers, even if it involves taking seemingly small steps such as the principal going out to the gate and talking to parents so that parents do not have to come in themselves. Similarly, if the P&C is considered by most parents to be an ‘exclusive club’, this needs to be immediately addressed. This can help ensure that the students, the parents and the wider community feel welcomed and safe within the school community.

An Example – Parent Involvement in Queensland State Schools

An example of how parents are being included in the decision-making processes within schools can be observed in Queensland. P&C Queensland and the Queensland Department of Education and Training jointly created a student risk management policy, largely about how volunteers work with students that may be at risk and how students identify and report risks. This policy is adopted every year by every P&C, amounting to over 1200 state schools. Now, P&C Queensland and the Queensland Department of Education and Training are looking at reviewing the policy and revising it to better include the voice of parents and ensure a full closure of the decision-making loop. This will allow parents to have a genuine oversight in important decisions.

Conclusion

The reports and findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse explored how safe communities make safe organisations. This is also true the other way around. The tone and cultural commitment to child safety at a school breeds into the community. Meaningfully engaging with families and different community groups in school decision-making processes can help ensure that there is a safe community, safe space, and safe organisation.