05/07/2021

On 1 July 2021, the Victorian Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) announced new Child Safe Standards for Victoria (new Standards), and advised that these new Standards would commence on 1 July 2022. All child-related organisations in Victoria are expected to comply with these new Standards from the commencement date, although they must still comply with the current Child Safe Standards (current Standards) until then.

The new Standards were developed as a result of a review of the current Standards in early 2019, which recommended that the current Standards be revised to align with the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations (National Principles). Since the time when the current Standards were adopted (2016), all states and territories (including Victoria) have endorsed the National Principles as the national benchmark for child safe organisations around Australia.

11 New Standards

The new Standards cover all the concepts contained in the current Standards. However, they now include Standards 2, 3 and 4 from the National Principles, which are about children’s participation and empowerment, family and community involvement and equity and diversity. The new Standards are also written in quite different language to the current Standards, to more closely align with the language of the National Principles.

The CCYP has created a fact sheet that compares the current Standards and the new Standards, which can be found here.

Unfortunately, the new Standards do not align directly with the National Principles. Victoria has added an additional Standard at the very start. This means that the numbering of each of the 10 National Principles does not match the numbering of its equivalent in the new Standards.

The new Standards are:

Child Safe Standard 1 – Organisations establish a culturally safe environment in which the diverse and unique identities and experiences of Aboriginal children and young people are respected and valued

Standard 1 of the new Standards was recommended by the Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People. It essentially re-iterates and expands on National Principle 4 (see new Standard 5 below).

To meet this Standard, schools will be expected to:

• encourage and support children and young people to express their culture and enjoy their cultural rights
• embed strategies to equip staff members (and volunteers) to acknowledge and appreciate the strengths of Aboriginal culture and understand its importance to the wellbeing and safety of Aboriginal children and young people
• adopt measures to ensure that racism within the school is identified, confronted and not tolerated, and to address instances of racism with appropriate consequences
• actively support and facilitate participation and inclusion by Aboriginal children, young people and their families
• ensure that all of the school’s policies, procedures, systems and processes create a culturally safe and inclusive environment and meet the needs of Aboriginal children, young people and their families.

“Cultural safety” means an environment that is spiritually, socially and emotionally safe, as well as physically safe for Aboriginal people, and where there is no assault on, challenge of or denial of their identity, who they are and what they need. The concept was originally developed specifically for Aboriginal people within health settings.

The phrase “cultural safety” is used throughout the Final Report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and in the National Principles, particularly in relation to Standard 4 (see Standard 5 of the new Standards, below).

Being culturally safe is about ensuring that a school’s policies, procedures and practices take into account, reflect and validate the cultural makeup of its students and their communities, to minimise any cultural barriers that there might be to reporting concerns.

Child Safe Standard 2 – Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in organisational leadership, governance and culture

This new Standard includes many of the concepts and requirements of Standards 1, 2 and 3 of the current Standards. The requirements in the current Standards to have a child safe policy, a child safe code of conduct and risk management strategies to prevent abuse are all covered by this new Standard 1.

To meet this Standard, schools will be expected to:

• make a public commitment to child safety (for example, in a publicly available Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy)
• champion and model a child safe culture at all levels of the school
• ensure that governance arrangements facilitate the implementation of the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy
• have a Child Safe Code of Conduct
• have risk management strategies that focus on preventing, identifying and managing risks to children and young people
• ensure that staff and volunteers understand their information sharing and record keeping obligations.

The focus on information sharing and record keeping, in particular, means that schools will need to ensure that policies, procedures and systems for information and record keeping systems effectively support the sharing of information at all levels about risks to children, and the extent to which all staff and volunteers understand their obligations in this regard.

Child Safe Standard 3 – Children and young people are empowered about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously

This new Standard covers the concepts included in current Standard 7, but goes beyond just requiring strategies to promote children and young people’s participation and empowerment. It places specific obligations on schools to:

• inform children and young people about all of their rights, including to safety, information and participation
• recognise the importance of friendships and encourage support from peers
• offer children and young people access to sexual abuse prevention programs and to other relevant information, in age appropriate ways
• ensure that staff and volunteers are attuned to the signs of harm, and that they facilitate child-friendly ways for children and young people to express their views, participate in decision-making and raise their concerns
• have strategies to develop a culture that both facilitates participation and is responsive to the input of children and young people
• provide opportunities for children and young people to participate, and be responsive to their contributions.

Child Safe Standard 4 – Families and communities are informed, and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing

This new Standard has no direct equivalent in the current Standards. It recognises that involving families and relevant communities in developing, reviewing and implementing the child safety systems at a school is essential to foster an open and transparent child safe culture.

To meet this Standard, schools will be expected to:

• involve families in decisions affecting their child
• engage and openly communicate with families and communities about the school’s approach to child safety, and to ensure that relevant information is accessible
• involve families and communities in the development and review of the school’s policies and procedures
• inform families and communities about their operations and governance.

This Standard will require schools to consider which communities may be relevant to them and to child safety. For example, relevant communities might include the community in which the school is located, the wider school community, and the cultural, linguistic and other communities that make up its staff and students.

Child Safe Standard 5 – Equity is upheld and diverse needs respected in policy and practice

This new Standard covers the concepts included in the “3 Principles” of the current Standards:

Promoting the cultural safety of Aboriginal children, promoting the cultural safety of culturally and linguistically diverse children and promoting the safety of children with disability. It creates specific obligations on schools to:

• understand children and young people’s diverse circumstances and provide support and respond to those who are vulnerable
• provide children and young people with information, support and complaints processes in ways that are culturally safe, accessible and easy to understand
• pay particular attention to the needs of children and young people with disability and from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, those who are unable to live at home, and LGBTQI+ children and young people
• pay particular attention to the needs of Aboriginal children and young people and provide/promote a culturally safe environment.

Child Safe Standard 6 – People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice

This new Standard covers the concepts included in current Standard 4, but adds additional obligations in relation to what needs to be included in induction training for staff. It also specifically includes volunteers as people to whom child safe human resources management requirements should apply.

To meet this new Standard, schools will be expected to:

• ensure that recruitment, including when advertising and when conducting referee checks and other staff and volunteer pre-employment screening, emphasises child safety and wellbeing
• ensure that all relevant staff and volunteers have a current working with children clearance
• provide an appropriate induction to all staff and volunteers that covers their responsibilities to children and young people, as well as their record keeping, information sharing and reporting obligations
• provide ongoing supervision and people management that focuses on child safety and wellbeing.

This Standard will require schools to consider, in particular, how to apply child safe recruitment practices to volunteers, and how to provide volunteers with induction training. Similar to new Standard 2, the focus on including information sharing and record keeping obligations in induction for staff and volunteers also means that schools will need to review their current induction programs to make sure that these areas are covered.

Child Safe Standard 7 – Processes for complaints and concerns are child focused

This new Standard covers the concepts included in current Standard 5. It makes explicit the obligation on schools to:

• have an accessible, child focused complaints handling policy that outlines the roles and responsibilities of leadership, staff and volunteers, the approaches to dealing with different types of complaints and breaches of relevant policies/the Child Safe Code of Conduct, and the obligations to act and report
• ensure that children and young people, families, staff and volunteers all understand the school’s complaints handling processes, and that these are culturally safe
• take complaints seriously and respond promptly and thoroughly
• have in place policies and procedures that address the reporting of complaints and concerns to relevant authorities (whether or not the law requires reporting) and require cooperation with law enforcement
• meet reporting, privacy and employment law obligations when responding to complaints and concerns.

This Standard goes further than current Standard 5, by recognising not only that a school should have clear procedures for reporting concerns and allegations to the school and that it should encourage children to report if they feel unsafe or concerned, but also that – in order for this to occur - a school’s complaints handling system must be child focused. A child focused complaints handling system is:

• one in which the rights, safety and wellbeing of children and young people are promoted
• accessible and responsive to the needs of children and young people and their parents/carers
• one in which complaints are dealt with promptly, thoroughly and fairly.

Child Safe Standard 8 – Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training

This new Standard incorporates aspects of current Standards 4, 5 and 6, but is more prescriptive and explicit. It creates specific obligations on schools to provide staff and volunteers with ongoing education and training about:

• the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy
• recognising indicators of harm (including that caused by other children and young people)
• how to respond effectively to child safety and wellbeing issues, and how to support colleagues who disclose harm
• how to build culturally safe environments for children and young people.

Similar to Standard 6, this Standard will require schools to consider, in particular, how to provide volunteers with ongoing education and training about child safety. Schools will also need to review their ongoing education and training programs to make sure that all of the required areas are covered.

Child Safe Standard 9 – Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed

This new Standard incorporates aspects of current Standard 6 (which requires a school to have strategies aimed at identifying and minimising risks of abuse). It creates specific obligations on a school to:

• identify and mitigate risks in the online and physical environment in a way that does not compromise a child or young person’s right to privacy, access to information, social connections and learning opportunities
• ensure that its online environment is used in accordance with the Child Safe Code of Conduct and other child safety and wellbeing policies and practices
• have risk management plans that take into account risks posed by the school’s settings, activities and physical environment
• have procurement policies and procedures that ensure the safety of children and young people.

This Standard expands on new Standard 2’s requirement that schools have risk management strategies that focus on preventing, identifying and managing risks to children and young people.

Child Safe Standard 10 – Implementation of the Child Safe Standards is regularly reviewed and improved

This new Standard has no direct equivalent in the current Standards. It recognises that, to be a child safe organisation, a school must continuously review and improve its child safety and wellbeing policies and procedures.

To meet this Standard, schools will be expected to:

• analyse complaints, concerns and safety incidents to identify causes and systemic failure and to inform continuous improvement
• report the findings of relevant reviews to staff and volunteers, communities, families and children and young people.

This Standard is complemented by new Standards 3, 4 and 5, which require schools to provide information to, and to include/encourage the involvement of, children and young people, families and relevant communities with respect to the development and review of the school’s policies and procedures.

Child Safe Standard 11 – Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people

This new Standard has no direct equivalent in the current Standards, although as a whole, the current Standards require schools to have policies and procedures that support their implementation.

To meet this Standard, schools will be expected to:

• incorporate all 11 of the new Standards in their policies and procedures
• ensure that these policies and procedures are documented and easy to understand
• consult with stakeholders and use best practice models when developing the policies and procedures
• ensure that leadership at the school champions and models compliance with the policies and procedures
• ensure that staff and volunteers understand and implement the policies and procedures.

This Standard complements, and is complemented, by Standard 2, which requires the school’s leadership team to champion and model a child safe culture, and Standard 7.

The New Standards and Ministerial Order 870

Schools in Victoria are required to comply with the current Standards, under Part 6 of the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 (Vic). The Minister for Education has published Ministerial Order 870 (MO 870), which prescribes the minimum matters with which schools in Victoria must comply in order to meet the current Standards and to be registered. MO 870 details 57 requirements that schools must meet in order to be considered compliant with the current Standards.

As MO 870 sets out the minimum requirements for compliance with the current Standards, it is anticipated that – prior to the commencement of the new Standards – MO 870 will either be amended or a new Order will be published, setting out how schools will be expected to comply with the new Standards.

Similarly, any guidance that is currently provided by the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority and the Catholic Education Commission Victoria about how to comply with MO 870 for the purposes of registration will also likely have to be updated.

What Should Schools Do?

Schools still need to comply with the current Standards (and therefore, with MO 870) until 1 July 2022.

A new/amended Ministerial Order and new registration guidance for schools will likely be published before 1 July 2022. Schools should keep an eye out for these, as – because the new Standards are quite different from the current Standards – this new guidance is likely to significantly change the requirements for registration. Once this guidance is released, schools will need to review their current child safe policies and procedures to consider whether and where any changes or additions are required.

In the meantime, schools should prepare for the commencement of the new Standards by reviewing the guidance provided by the CCYP, which can be found here.

Current child safe policies and procedures could also be reviewed and revised for compliance with the new Standards using this material, in anticipation of their commencement.