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School staff have a vital role in protecting students. You must know and comply with your reporting and legal obligations.
Child safety frameworks
All school staff must take reasonable steps to minimise risks of harm to students in their care that is reasonably foreseeable.
See the duty of care policy.
Who this applies to
All school staff have a duty of care to their students.
This duty of care is non-delegable. This means that it cannot be assigned to someone else. More than one person can hold a duty of care to a particular student at any one time.
Your school must support all enrolled students, including:
- students who have experienced or disclosed abuse
- students who use violence or harmful behaviour
- other students who may be affected.
Your duty of care extends to all enrolled students, no matter their age.
All students who experience abuse need support. Some students are more vulnerable to abuse and need tailored support to fit their needs.
Some students experience an increased vulnerability based on attributes such as:
- being Aboriginal
- having a culturally and linguistically diverse background
- disability
- gender identity
- sexual orientation
- being an international student
- being unable to live at home.
What schools must do
As soon as you form a reasonable belief that a student has been, or is at risk of being, abused you must act, by following the 4 Critical Actions.
These actions will help you fulfil your duty of care. Different pathways apply depending on the source of abuse.
Victoria's Child Safe Standards help schools create and maintain a child-safe organisation and protect children and young people from harm and abuse.
All Victorian schools and school boarding premises must comply with Ministerial Order 1359. Ministerial Order 1359 sets out the actions schools must take to implement the Child Safe Standards.
See guidance on the Child Safe Standards.
Who this applies to
Ministerial Order 1359 applies to all Victorian schools and school boarding premises.
School governing authorities must ensure compliance with this Ministerial Order.
The Child Safe Standards and Reportable Conduct Scheme create complementary responsibilities for schools. Together, they strengthen the capacity of schools to prevent and respond to child abuse.
What schools must do
Schools must comply with the Child Safe Standards to keep students safe.
The Reportable Conduct Scheme is a child safety mechanism that provides central oversight of how organisations respond to allegations of reportable conduct by a person engaged by the school.
There is an allegation of reportable conduct under the scheme where a person has a reasonable belief that there has been:
- a sexual offence committed against, with or in the presence of a child
- sexual misconduct committed against, with or in the presence of a child
- physical violence committed against, with or in the presence of a child
- behaviour causing significant emotional or psychological harm to a child
- significant neglect of a child by a person engaged by the school.
Reportable conduct covers:
- conduct in the school environment when conducting school activities (including off-site school-related activities, e.g. camps)
- conduct outside the school environment in everyday life.
The Child Safe Standards and Reportable Conduct Scheme create complementary responsibilities for schools. Together, they strengthen the capacity of schools to prevent and respond to abuse.
Who this applies to
The scheme covers almost all adults engaged by a school, including:
- teaching staff
- other staff and leadership
- school council employees and members
- department employees
- contractors (including labour hire)
- volunteers (including parents)
- allied health staff
- casual relief staff
- pre-service teachers
- home stay hosts
- board members
- secondees
- School Advisory Council members
- individuals who carry on a business and engages contractors, employees or volunteers to assist the school in providing services or facilities or in producing or providing goods
- company directors (for non-government schools)
- clergy and religious educators (for non-government schools)
What schools must do
Follow the advice for your school sector.
Government schools
- Policy and Advisory Library: Reportable and Notifiable Conduct Policy
- Identify and respond to child abuse by an adult engaged by a government school
Catholic schools
Independent Schools
The Reportable Conduct Scheme does not change a person’s other reporting obligations.
If you have formed a reasonable belief that an adult engaged by a school has abused their own child, this conduct may require a mandatory report.
Victorian schools can share confidential information under the Information Sharing Schemes, including:
- the Child Information Sharing Scheme (CISS)
- the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme (FVISS).
Under CISS, schools can share relevant information about any person to promote the wellbeing or safety of a child or group of children. Under FVISS, schools can share relevant information to assess or manage risk of family violence.
See Information Sharing and Family Violence Reforms: Guidance and Tools.
How the schemes fit with existing obligations
The Information Sharing Schemes complement existing obligations and frameworks. They do not replace other lawful ways to share information, including:
- the Reportable Conduct Scheme
- information sharing with Department of Families Fairness and Housing Child Protection under the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (Vic)
- disclosure of information under the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 (Vic)
- privacy or criminal law.
Together, these frameworks support better collaboration between services.
Who this applies to
Victorian schools and many other services are prescribed Information Sharing Entities (ISEs).
School staff with information sharing responsibilities can share or request relevant information.
For more information:
- see who can share information under the information sharing and MARAM reforms for a list of prescribed workforces
- Search the Information Sharing Entity list to find contact details for organisations and services.
What schools must do
Schools can:
- request information from other ISEs
- proactively share information with other ISEs
Schools must:
- acknowledge requests
- respond promptly
- follow legislative principles
- advise the requesting ISE in writing if they decline to share any requested information
- keep records under CISS and FVISS.
MARAM sets a consistent, shared approach across Victoria’s service system to identify and respond to family violence.
The FVISS enables schools to meet their obligations under MARAM.
Under MARAM, schools have six responsibilities:
- engage respectfully, sensitively and safely
- identify family violence
- consult and refer
- share information with other authorised services
- contribute to coordinated risk management
- collaborate for ongoing risk assessment and risk management.
Who this applies to
All schools must follow MARAM processes to identify and respond to family violence.
All school staff
All school staff have MARAM responsibilities for identifying and responding to family violence. See MARAM responsibilities for all staff.
School leaders
School leaders (principals and school leadership) must build a culture that supports information sharing and MARAM. For more information, see MARAM responsibilities for School leaders.
MARAM nominated staff members
MARAM nominated staff members are identified by the school or service leader. They should have qualifications, training, experience or a role aligned with wellbeing. This could include wellbeing coordinators and leadership staff.
MARAM nominated staff can meet their responsibilities by:
- screening for family violence, using the Family Violence Screening Tool
- undertaking basic safety planning, using the Basic Safety Plan Template
- using the Information Sharing Schemes to request and share information
- making referrals to specialist services
- collaborating with specialist services to provide ongoing support.
For more information see MARAM nominated staff responsibilities.
What schools must do
All school staff must act, by following the 4 Critical Actions.
Schools must follow MARAM processes to identify and respond to family violence.
For more information refer to:
- Information Sharing and Family Violence Reforms: Guidance and Tools
- Policy and Advisory Library: Family Violence Support Policy: All staff responsibilities
Mandatory reporting obligations continue to apply to individuals who are mandatory reporters. By itself, making a mandatory report does not acquit your school or service’s obligations under MARAM.
Legal obligations
If you are a mandatory reporter and, while doing your job, you form a belief on reasonable grounds that:
- a child has suffered, or is likely to suffer, significant harm as a result of physical and/or sexual abuse and
- the child’s parents have not protected or are unlikely to protect the child from harm of that type
you must report to Child Protection as soon as practicable. It may be a criminal offence not to report in these circumstances.
See the DFFH Reporter Hub.
Who this applies to
Mandatory reporters include:
- Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) registered teachers, including principals, and early childhood teachers
- school staff who have been granted permission to teach by the VIT
- registered medical practitioners, nurses and midwives
- police officers
- registered psychologists
- people in religious ministry
- early childhood workers
- youth justice workers
- out-of-home care workers (excluding voluntary foster and kinship carers)
- school counsellors, including staff who provide mental, emotional, or psychological support:
- school health and wellbeing staff
- student wellbeing coordinators
- mental health practitioners
- chaplains
- Student Support Services staff.
What schools must do
Mandatory reporters must follow the 4 Critical Actions and report to Child Protection if needed.
Failure to disclose is a criminal offence.
You must report to Victoria Police if you have a reasonable belief that an adult has committed a sexual offence against a child in Victoria.
If you fail to report the information, you may be charged with a criminal offence.
See failure to disclose offence.
Who this applies to
This offence applies to all adults, not just professionals who work with students.
You must report the information to police as soon as possible, unless:
- you have a ‘reasonable excuse’ for not reporting the information, or
- you are exempt from the offence.
What schools must do
By law, all adults must report to Victoria Police if they form a reasonable belief that an adult has sexually offended against a child under 16.
Failure to protect is a criminal offence.
- The offence applies where there is a substantial risk that a child under the age of 16 under the care, supervision or authority of a relevant organisation will become a victim of a sexual offence committed by an adult associated with that organisation.
- A person in a position of authority in the organisation will commit the offence if they know of the risk of abuse and have the power or responsibility to reduce or remove the risk, but negligently fail to do so.
This offence encourages organisations to actively manage the risks and protect children in their care from harm.
For more information refer to failure to protect offence.
Who this applies to
This offence applies to a person in a position of authority within an organisation. In a school, this includes:
- principals
- assistant principals
- campus principals.
What schools must do
Any staff member in a position of authority who becomes aware that an adult associated with their organisation (employee, contractor, visitor, volunteer) poses a substantial risk of committing a sexual offence against any child under the age of 16 under their care, supervision or authority, must take all reasonable steps to remove or reduce that risk.
Following the 4 Critical Actions helps staff members to meet this obligation.
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