In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the implementation of the National Principles by each state and territory and found that most jurisdictions will soon expect, or already require, child related organisations to integrate the National Principles into their policies and practices. Part 2 explored the concept of cultural change as required by National Principle 1: Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in organisational leadership, governance and culture. We explained that all of the other National Principles hang off National Principle 1: if National Principle 1 is not in place in a school, compliance with the rest will not be possible.
But in order to embed child safety into a school’s leadership, governance and culture, a school will need to address all of the remaining National Principles. Compliance with each National Principle is also its own separate requirement. While the National Principles leave it open to schools as to the specific strategies that they choose to adopt to comply with each Principle, there are some practical steps schools can take to meet these other National Principles. Indeed, in many cases schools may already be meeting these requirements, and it might be simply a matter of documenting existing practices by inserting these in the school’s policies and procedures.
This Principle recognises that establishing an environment of trust and inclusion at a school, by ensuring that all students:
enables students to speak up when they have concerns about their safety and that of their peers.
Most schools will already have formal and informal mechanisms in place for involving students in decisions that affect them, so compliance with some aspects of this Principle may simply be a matter of documenting this. But schools should consider whether these mechanisms are enough to involve children in all school decisions that affect them, not just those relating to child protection. If not, additional measures will need to be developed and documented.
Another step schools can take to establish an environment of trust and inclusion is to develop and implement (or documenting existing) strategies to promote and support friendship, encourage peer support and make the school’s physical environment friendly for children.
This Principle recognises that families have primary responsibility for the upbringing of their child, and that they are best placed to advise about their children’s needs and capabilities. In addition, it makes clear that cultural safety is a necessary part of child safety, and that to be culturally safe a school needs to engage with the communities that are relevant to that school, though respectful relationships and partnerships.
Steps that schools can take to meet this Principle include:
This Principle recognises that children and young people have diverse circumstances, and that many face additional vulnerabilities to child abuse and/or additional barriers to disclosing harm. To be a child safe organisation, schools must understand the diverse circumstances of their students and provide support and respond to those facing additional vulnerabilities or barriers.
Steps that schools can take to meet this Principle include:
Ensuring that people working or volunteering at a school are suitable is about much more than just complying with Working with Children/Working with Vulnerable People Check requirements. A focus on child safety needs to be embedded in each of stage of human resource management. A school’s policies and procedures for recruitment and selection processes, induction, supervision, and managing the performance of staff, volunteers and contractors all need to promote child safety.
Steps that schools can take to meet this Principle include:
This Principle requires that effective and child-focused complaints processes be developed, that are accessible, responsive to and understood by children and young people, families, staff and volunteers. It requires consideration of cultural safety issues, of barriers to reporting or participating in complaints processes and of fairness to all parties involved in a complaint or investigation. The important thing to remember is that this Principle is not just about child protection complaints, but about ensuring that – for child related organisations such as schools – the entire complaints handling system has children’s rights and safety at its heart.
The National Office of Child Safety has prepared a Complaint Handling Guide: Upholding the rights of children and young people, which gives practical advice about how to develop, implement and maintain a complaint handing system that priorities child safety and promotes the rights of children and young people to have a voice in decisions that affect them.
An additional step that schools might take, with respect to processes for managing child protection related complaints, includes having clear procedures for staff about how to make external reports (i.e. beyond mandatory reporting to child welfare, police and reportable conduct bodies).
This Principle expresses the importance of information, ongoing education and training being provided to staff and volunteers. Schools will need to consider:
This Principle is all about risk management. A school’s risk management plans and risk registers should include, and address, risks to child safety that are related to the specific online and physical environments at the school.
Documenting a school’s child safe policies, procedures and practices in a way that is accessible to students, families, relevant communities, staff and volunteers enables all stakeholders to be aware of how the school plans to meet its obligations to create an environment that is safe for children, assists in ensuring consistent application of child safe practices across the school and enables reporting of issues when they arise. But is also important to regularly review these policies and procedures, as well as how the school is faring in implementing the National Principles.
Step schools can take to meet this Principle include:
In the past, before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, many organisations believed that they were safe for children simply because they were an organisation ‘about’ children. But the Royal Commission demonstrated the folly in that thinking. It takes a concerted, focused and well planned effort to be a child safe organisation. With mandatory compliance with the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations coming to every jurisdiction in Australia, it’s time for schools to start that process.