Introduction
It’s the duty of “teachers, students, parents and law enforcement agencies, businesses, and faith based organizations to ensure that schools” provide secure learning environments (Stewart & Knott 2002, p. 10). Indeed children have the right to be educated in environments that are certified to be secure and free from all forms of bullying, harassment, violence, abuse and neglect (Clandinin & Connelly 1986).
This paper seeks to identify three policies (the excursion policy, child protection policy and the anti-bullying policy) and analyse their effectiveness as far as provision of safe and secure learning environments is concerned. The paper will critically appraise these policies, identifying their strengths and give recommendations on areas where improvements should be conducted.
The Excursion Policy
The excursion policy entails the relevant rules that should be adhered to when students from schools in the districts under the jurisdiction are out on a trip that is within the country. The policy clearly states the exact process that should be taken right from the planning stage to the end of the excursion activity. The safety and security measures that should be taken by the school administration are clearly stated in the excursion policy.
The policy states that educational excursions should provide enriching experiences for students in a variety of environments; the excursions planned by any given school should be within the educational program; the total costs of the excursions should be footed by the school; as for ACT government schools, the equity fund should be used to support disadvantaged students during excursions; in case additional expenses will be required during the excursion then parents should be notified beforehand; any communications between parents and schools in regard to the excursion activity should be done in writing (Benson 1999).
The excursion policy framework covers all local and overnight excursions. It further states the responsibilities of the principle in regard to the excursion activity and more importantly, outlines all the requirements that should be religiously followed to ensure the safety of the students on excursions (ACT Government 2011).
The policy does not address excursions that may fall under the following circumstances: those that pertain to work experience and vocational work placements; those that entail overseas trips including overseas student exchange programs that are sanctioned by private organisations; and finally, excursions that are within a particular college of high school program, involving a small group of students who may not require supervision.
The excursion policy outlines the responsibilities that should be taken by the principle and the teacher in charge of the excursion activity.
The teacher in charge is required: to be aware of the relevant policies and comply with them fully; to inform the students and parents of the rules and transport arrangements; to ensure that a hired vehicle is properly insured; to have a first aid certificate and a fully stocked first aid kit; to verify that all accompanying adults are qualified in their areas; to ensure that parents have given consent and each students medical information is verified; to put in place the emergency contacts and procedures for the excursions; finally, to determine that all accommodation facilities are secure, safe and separately available differently for the sexes (ACT Government 2011).
There are also responsibilities of the host school in regard to the safety and accommodation arrangements.
Identification of Strengths and analysis of the excursion policy
As described in the Education Legislation of 2004, schools owe a duty of care to the students they accept for enrolment (ACT Government 2011). The excursion policy is detailed and covers all the pertinent areas of concern in an excursion activity.
Indeed, the policy echoes the school safety requirements by adopting a comprehensive approach that seeks to prevent, intervene and ensure the safety of students and other participants during an excursion that are described in the Australian Constitution.
The policy fosters a sense of community connection among schools, teachers and parents to ensure that excursion activities are largely secured and are in line with the school program. By stressing the fact that excursions are optional, the policy promotes appropriate scrutiny as to whether certain excursions are necessary (Butler & Mathews 2007).
The roles of the teacher in charge, principal, host school and other accompanying staff are clearly stipulated in line with statutory requirements that give the duty of care to the students.
The strengths of the excursion policy can be seen when the following important aspects are considered:
Financing of the excursion activities, where the principal is required to ensure that the school or college incurs all the costs which will later paid by parents or deducted from the equity fund in case the student is from a poor background; relevance of the excursion activities through ensuring that all the excursion activities are within the educational program of the institution; and ensuring security of the students by placing all excursion activities under the supervision of qualified adults.
It’s important to note that excursions involve activities that may pose dangers to the students. Such dangers are described both in the sections of the Child Protection Act 1999 and the Education Act of 2004 (Tronc 2005).
Excursion policy limitations and recommendations
In spite of the fact that the policy is good, it has some short comings that may actually comprise the safety and security of the students on an excursion or discourage excursion activities altogether.
First, the policy is too complex and has a few unrealistic requirements that may not be met by many teachers in a given institution. The requirement that the teacher in charge should be a certified first aid provider sets a high bar for any teacher who may want to take his students on an excursion.
It could have been much better for the excursion policy to include a provision for hiring a first aid provider so that the burden of first aid is not placed on teachers. This requirement simply implies that teachers should take additional training in first aid if they are to take their students on excursions (Clandinin & Conelly 1986).
Secondly, through the requirement that principles, host schools and the teacher in charge take full responsibility during excursion activities, the policy ensures that they are directly liable for any violations that may take place. The potential collision with the law places a big burden on the teachers in charge to an extent that excursions may be discouraged.
The policy also gives similar roles to the principal and the teacher in charge. For instance, the requirement that parents are informed is both placed under the responsibilities of the teacher in charge and the principal.
In spite of the fact that such a measure ensures double checking for the fulfilment of all the requirements, it may lead to confusion or it may not be easy to establish the liable party in case of a violation. The law requires a clear distinction of duties so that it can be easy to pinpoint the culprit in case of a violation (Benson 1999).
Owing to the fact that schools have established statutory mechanisms through which communication with parents is carried out, activities that require the consent of parents should be channelled through this establishments and confirmed by the principle or the teacher in charge.
If the complexity surrounding the excursion policy is ironed out then improvements in the frontline practice will actually be achieved as far as school excursion activities are concerned (Stewart & Knott 2002).
Child Protection and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect in ACT Public Schools policy
Sound policy development plays an important role as a child protection and reporting abuse tool. Through anticipation of the dangers that may face children, schools and other stakeholders enhance their ability to avoid or respond to a crisis (Butler & Mathews 2007).
The child protection policy states that ACT public schools should be able to provide a secure learning environment for all students (ACT Government 2011). The responsibility to protect student from neglect and abuse lies with all the staff members in at the school and the visitors.
This policy is intended to assist the Department of Education Directorate and Training employees and visitors to schools to understand and fulfil their responsibilities in relation to child protection and responding to suspected child abuse and neglect (ACT Government 2011).
The policy has some specific procedures that need to be adhered to by the staffs of the Directorate and visitors who have been given the mandate to report incidences of child abuse or neglect. Briefly, the staffs of a given school or visitors who think that a certain case of child abuse or neglect necessitates police assistance should call an emergency service number.
Authorised and required reporters should report any proved cases that a certain young person or child is going through or has gone through sexual abuse and/or non accidental physical injury (ACT Government 2011). These reporters are also required to report proved cases of emotional ill-treatment or neglect. Such reports are to be sent immediately to the Care and Protection Services Centralised Intake Service.
If an abuse or neglect is taking place or is likely to take place in the school then the principal should be notified. If in any case the report involves a staff member of the Directorate then the mandated and required reporters and visitors must first register the report with the principal’s office, and if the subject of the report is the principal then the mandated reporters should inform the network leader.
Information regarding cases of neglect that are sent to the Care and Protection Services Centralised Intake Service should be stored safely in a secure location (ACT Government 2011).
Principals in ACT schools are required to ensure the protection of children by carrying out the following activities: ensuring that annual training activities are undertaken and the conducts of all staff evaluated;
keeping records of all staff training activities and putting particular emphasis to the staff members that fail to attend; ensure that new staff members who haven’t had the training are properly inducted into the responsibilities prescribed by the policy;
establish mechanisms by which visitors can be informed on how to report suspicious incidences to the principles office; ensure that young people and children are properly taught on how to enhance their emotional and social skills (ACT Government 2011).
Teachers are required to protect children by adhering to the teachers’ professional code of practice, receiving the mandatory annual training and teaching young people and children in secure and safe conduct (ACT Government 2011).
Analysis and identification of strengths of the Child Protection and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect in ACT Public Schools policy
In compliance with common law jurisdictions and the education act, the child protection policy transfers the role of parents to teachers based on the loco parentis concept, thus the school is required by the policy to act like a prudent parent (Ainsworth 2002).
The legislation that covers mandatory reporting of child abuse is captured in the children and community Services amendment Act 2008 that was incorporated in the previous Act of 2004 (Tronc 2005).
The child protection measures that are described in this policy reflect the changing trends of child protection systems in Australia.
This shows the “organizational; expansion of child welfare systems; and the legislative changes” that have been undertaken to ensure that children are taught in safe and secure environments (Benson 1999). Indeed child protection is a challenging task mainly due to the fact those who are given the responsibility to care for them are the same people that molest and abuse them.
This policy takes into account all this measures and gives the responsibility to every person to protect children and young people that are described in section 356 of the Children and Young People Act 2008 (ACT Government 2011).
The policy framework stipulates the necessary measures that should be undertaken by advanced and diverse societies to ensure that children are cared for and brought up in a manner that will enable them to develop into responsible adults.
The measures outlined in the policy are in line with statutory, legislative and constitutional requirements in regard to the protection of children and young people, especially as described in the Child protection Act 1999 (Stewart & Knott 2002).
Limitations of the policy and the recommendations
Though this policy can be described to be largely good and effective, it has some gray areas as to how identified cases should be punished. The Child Protection and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect in ACT Public Schools policy stops at the point at the point of reporting proved or suspected incidences.
It does not outline what happens after the cases have been reported. Its common knowledge that child abuse and neglect are criminal offences that are punishable by law, any policy should at least outline the kinds of punishment so that this can function as deterrence to potential offenders. The policy does not offer any guideline on how silent cases should be investigated and unearthed.
There are many cases where children are molested or abused and often do not report because they are either threatened or enticed. Thus a framework should be developed within the policy through which such cases can be easily recognized and reported to the relevant authorities.
Such measures may include encouraging children to report such cases or observing behaviour changes that may come as a result of abuse, molestation or neglect (Tomison 2002).
Anti-bullying policy
Bullying behaviours have thrived in schools for a long time. To counter this, policies, legislations and other mechanisms have been developed to try and address the vice. The most common form of bullying is physical where teachers or most commonly, older students mistreat other students.
However, in recent times, following the robust technological advancement witnessed, a new form of bullying referred to as cyber- bullying has come up. This new type of bullying is mainly perpetuated through electronic devices such as computers and cell phones.
Cyber bullying is conducted over the internet where minors are harassed using profane language, shown adult rated videos and pictures, threatened, molested and extorted off money and other valuables by adults.
To stop the ever increasing cases of bullying, stakeholders in the education sector have drafted policies that are intended to curb the vice.
The anti-bullying policy describes as the repeated negative actions by individuals or groups against a target individual or group, the actions involve imbalance of power ( ACT Government 2011).
The anti-bullying policy states that, consistent with the provisions in the providing safer schools policy each school should come up with mechanisms of countering bullying, harassment and violence; schools should develop practices and programs that tailored to ensure that all students are guarded from violence, harassment and other forms of bullying;
In case of any bullying instances, appropriate reports should be send in writing and via telephone to the leader of the school network without delay, desirably within 24 hours; every school should develop appropriate procedures for reporting, intervening, accessing help and support and professional learning for the different affected parties; finally, the school should keep a statistical record of all the incidences of bullying (ACT Government 2011).
This policy is framework is addressed to all ACT public schools and requires them to be able to identify the different forms of bullying and develop mechanisms of dealing with the varying cases.
In the specific school policy reviewed, non- punitive, restorative approaches are used to deal with the culprits. The school has tried to design measures that match the scope of the bullying problems identified. In case of violence, the school determines whether the state law imposes any requirements regarding the suspension of the student(s) or imposition of other minor disciplinary measures (ACT Government 2011).
The school has a management plan that deals with new cases of harassment. The consequences are identified in regard to the degree of the violation. Monitoring mechanisms have been put in place to track cases of repeated offending. In this case, the repeat offender may be suspended of expelled from the school.
In regard to cyber-bullying, the school has established measures that ensure the students are sufficiently protected from cyber-predators. Such measures include: the establishment of a code of practice for information security management that is in line with the federal requirements.
Thus, any one who is using the internet facility is asked to sign a user friendly agreement that limits his/her activities on the internet. The policy also ensures cooperation between teachers and parents to ensure that the rules are not violated at home.
Analysis and Strengths of the anti-bullying policy
The anti-bullying policy has been developed by considering the safety practices that are captured in the “constitution, federal statutes and their implementing regulations” (Tronc 2005).
However, cyber bulling is relatively a recent phenomenon, the very few laws, legislative framework and systems that are available to tackle the vice. Bullying is however classified as an act of crime that attracts varying forms of intervention including punishment by the law as stipulated in section 35 of the Education ACT 2004 (ACT Government 2011). This may apply if the student is found to be persistently and wilfully non- compliant.
The anti-bulling policy mentioned above is well thought out and reasonable as far as bullying is concerned. Legislation in all jurisdictions requires that intervention measures are put in place to cover young people up to the age of 18 (Mc Grath & Noble 2006). It uses the non-punitive approach in dealing with bullying cases in the institution.
This is a good measure as it ensures the correction of student’s behaviours without necessarily affecting their psyche. This approach further deals effectively with the legal issues that may arise in prescribing other forms of punishment for the students. The state law requires a school to adopt policies that are reasonable to address whatever bullying problem they face (Constantino 2003).
This implies that the extent of bullying should have a rationale relationship with the expected consequence. As in the case of the above analyzed policy, the approach ranges mediation to expulsion depending on the degree of the bullying instance and whether there are repeated cases.
Limitations of the anti-bullying policy and the recommendations
It’s well established that comprehensive safety plans form an integral part of school management (Benson 1999). In cases of bullying, that may result from weak policies and rules the school be potentially held liable. Thus the policy above seems to reflect the catch-22 situation that plagues school administrations.
It’s important to note that courts have often held schools responsible in situations under the principle that where a school “increases efforts to curb bullying or violence, it assumes a greater duty to supervise students and persons on school grounds in part because people rely on the provisions of the plan to protect them” (Stewart & Knott 2002, p. 56).
Thus the policy analysed may have been designed in relation to this, in part to shift the liability of extreme cases of bullying to the involved individuals. However, in recent cases, liability has often been asserted on the school administration if it fails to put in place a strong policy to guard against bullying.
Conclusion
This paper sought to identify three policies (the excursion policy, child protection policy and the anti-bullying policy) and analyse their effectiveness as far as provision of safe and secure learning environments is concerned. Additionally, the paper sought to critically appraise these policies, identifying their strengths and give recommendations on areas where improvements should be conducted.
The three policies identified include: excursion policy which entails the pertinent rules that should be adhered to when students in schools are to go on a short trip within the country (ACT Government 2011).
The policies analysed, describe the pertinent measures that should be taken by all stakeholders in the education sector to ensure that schools provide safe and secure learning environments.
The policies reflect legal and practical considerations that are applicable in developing safety measures for students (Tronc 2005). It’s important that concerted efforts are geared towards the schools safety issue so that all or most of the challenges are tackled on several fronts.
Apart from what has been described in the policies, it’s important to note that administrative support is essential in ensuring that all the required resources are mobilised towards the attainment of safer learning environments (Tronc 2005).
With vigilant and careful execution of plans and further monitoring activities, teachers, students and other members of the community then schools can make great strides towards the realisation of safe and secure learning environments.
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