Parent engagement in child safety

In October 2019, we attended the first official meeting of the VIT Community Expectations Advisory Committee. We discussed the topic of parent engagement in child safety with conversation on topics such as:

• Lack of parent knowledge around the child safe standards, processes for reporting etc
• Understanding the difference between misconduct and reportable conduct
• Increasing awareness about what each organisation does, and where to refer complaints or concerns about matters that occur within a school context
• Raising parent awareness of their role as volunteers in schools and the community
• Questions for parents to ask organisations in their local communities about how they implement the child safe standards and create child safe organisations for their children
• Questions for parents to ask their children to empower them, to make them feel safe, and to encourage them to seek help.

Many of these topics will be explored further by CSPV along with other key stakeholders to establish further information and resources for parents. CSPV will be involved in reviewing draft resources in January 2020.

Following the meeting, CSPV parent member delegates provided feedback on several mock cases to provide a parent perspective in VIT management of teacher misconduct or reportable conduct.

Changes to the way VIT registers and regulates teachers

Another topic discussed included recent changes to the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 and the Working with Children Act 2005 that commenced on 1 September 2019.

These changes seek to improve information sharing between VIT and Working With Children Check Victoria, and to create greater alignment between how the organisations assess whether a person is suitable to work with children. 

One of the reasons for the changes is that  all registered teachers are exempt from requiring a Working with Children (WWC) Check. This includes all registered teachers and all registered early childhood teachers (ECTs). This means that all registered teachers can rely on their teacher registration to engage in other child related work such as tutoring or volunteering at sporting or community clubs or associations.

It therefore becomes important for the two organisations to share information with one another, particularly if one of the organisations decide that the person is no longer suitable to work with children.

For example, if Working with Children Check Victoria issue a person with a negative notice (meaning that they are not suitable to work with children), the VIT must refuse to register the person as a teacher. If they are already registered as a teacher, the VIT must cancel their registration.

Similarly, if VIT suspend or cancel the registration of a teacher for disciplinary reasons, they share this information with Working with Children Check Victoria so that Working with Children Check Victoria can also take this into account and take appropriate action.

Another significant change is the new terminology that will be used by the VIT to assess whether a person can be registered or continue to be registered as a teacher or early childhood teacher. New categories include:

• Category A Offences – these are the most serious offences such as sexual offences committed by an adult against children. In circumstances where a person has been charged or found guilty of these offences, the VIT must refuse their application for registration as a teacher. If they are already registered as a teacher, VIT must suspend their registration if they have been charged with a category A offence. If the person is found guilty of a category A offence, the VIT must cancel their registration and they are disqualified from ever being registered as a teacher in Victoria..
• Category B Offences – these are also serious offences and can include other sexual offences, and certain violent and drug related offences. In these cases the VIT must refuse registration if it considers that the person is an unjustifiable risk to children. It also has the discretion to suspend the registration of a teacher if they have been charged of these offences. ,In cases where the person has been found guilty of these offences, VIT may refer the matter to a formal hearing to assess whether the person is fit to be a teacher.
• Category C conduct – these include indictable offences, and other conduct such as disciplinary action taken by the employer of a teacher. In these cases, the VIT may refuse to register the person as a teacher if their ability to teach in a school / early childhood service is likely to be affected because of the conduct engaged in; or if it is not in the public interest to allow the person to teach because of the conduct that they engaged in. .
• Information sheets about these changes are available on the VIT website.

These meetings highlight the importance of communication and information sharing with parents and an understanding of the role that VIT has to ensure child safety is priority when it comes to the registration of teachers each year.

CSPV acknowledge VIT for their transparency with parents and for putting children's safety first. CSPV support the work of VIT and value the partnership we have established over many years being involved in consultation with the organisation.

CSPV is currently reviewing the Victorian Teaching Profession Code of Conduct and invite anyone interested in providing feedback for this via CSPV to contact our Executive Officer, Rachel Saliba at executive@cspv.catholic.edu.au. Information about the Code of Conduct can be found at https://www.vit.vic.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/95703/Discussion-paper-professional-boundaries-workshop.pdf

VIT has recently released their Annual Report. Click on the link below to download.