School Governance wants to highlight some of our most read articles in 2022, as well as offer some additional resources where relevant. Many topics remained consistently popular for Australian schools including risk, compliance and child protection.

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Here are the ‘Top 10’ School Governance articles for 2022. Click on the article title to read the full article. There are also some links to helpful resources below.

10.

Working with Children Checks: Royal Commission Review

December 2022 will mark five years since the close of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and the release of its final report. To observe the significant impact that the Royal Commission has had on schools and the forthcoming five-year anniversary of its closure, we are writing a series of articles over the course of 2022, exploring the Royal Commission’s recommendations and their implementation throughout the country.

📚 HELPFUL RESOURCE: Hear first-hand, as CompliSpace and Marist Schools Australia host a joint webinar on how to create a child safe culture. How Marist Schools Australia are Creating a Child Safe Culture.

9.

Playground Duty and Supervision Rosters – Does Your School Have A Culture Of Safety?

Duty of care for students at school is not only applicable and expected in structured learning environments, it also applies in unstructured environments such as playgrounds. The duty of care for students extends to times before school, during breaks and after school. Does your school have a culture of safety for its students?

8.

Sports Coaches – Managing the Risks

Schools use a significant number of sports coaches to assist in the effective running of their sports programs. These coaches can include casual staff, volunteers or staff employed by third party sports coaching companies. This article focuses on some of the key risks for schools associated with sports coaches and sports volunteers and how to effectively manage these risks.

📚 HELPFUL RESOURCE: CompliSpace ran a short webinar, taking a deep dive into some of the critical areas of risk raised by schools and how they are applied in practice. Ask an Expert: Practical Risk Assessments in Schools.

7.

Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Your School - What You Need to Know

Hazards that can cause psychological and physical harm can be defined as psychosocial hazards. Schools should be aware that many work-related psychological injuries caused by these psychosocial hazards have the propensity for long recovery times, high costs, and many require staff to be absent from work for long periods of time.

6.

Vaping in Schools - How Is This Issue Being Managed?

Vaping is being described as the new smoking. Children from all walks of life and of varying ages are ‘exploring’ and taking up this addictive habit and schools, as is usually the case, are on the front line in trying to curtail this risky behaviour.

5.

Overseas Excursions And A Student’s Death: Do You Want To Be The Person Who Calls A Child’s Parents With This News?

The Victorian Coroner has investigated the death of a Year 9 student while on an overseas tour with his school. Could the school have done anything differently at the time?

📚 HELPFUL RESOURCE: CompliSpace recently hosted a webinar on excursion risk management with EdTech. Transforming Excursion Risk Management With Technology. 

4.

TikTok: What Are the Dangers and What Should Schools Do?

In this article we discuss some of the issues and potential dangers associated with TikTok and what schools should do to seek to address these.

📚 HELPFUL RESOURCE: CompliSpace published a white paper designed to assist school leaders with understanding and managing their social media risks. Request your copy of the white paper "Managing Social Media Risks in Schools".

3.

Five Critical Risks (and Opportunities) that Schools Should Be Engaged with in 2022

What are five critical risks that school governing body directors and school leadership should be making time to consider for the remainder of 2022? We are living in ‘VUCA’ times – where the risk outlook is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. This is due to COVID-19, government change, geopolitical uncertainty, rising interest rates, rising inflation and a plethora of other issues. It has been difficult to keep this list at just five.

📚 HELPFUL RESOURCE: School Governance is currently running a survey that aims to understand the most important risks that schools are facing. Take this short, 5-min survey to have your say. 

2.

Therapy Dogs In School Settings: Wonderful Educational Outcomes But Have You Managed The Risks?

Many schools have discovered that the presence of animals such as dogs can enhance social, emotional, and educational interactions between staff and students. However, although these wonderful animals bring joy, comfort and increased engagement, have schools also ensured that the hazards and risks associated with the interactions have been suitably managed?

1.

What If a Student Wants to Change the Gender on their School Records? Navigating the Issues.

What should a school do if a student wishes to change the gender that is recorded on their school records?

📚 HELPFUL RESOURCE: School Governance published another highly read article on this topic, "A School's Legal Obligations With Respect To Transgender Students".