The last couple of challenging years have seen a dramatic increase in aggression aimed at teachers, whether in person or via email and other electronic means (see a recent example here). Increasingly, schools report that many parents are pestering staff to the point of harassment.
What can the school do to help its staff?
In the context where the proprietor of the school owes a duty of care to its staff in relation to their health, safety and wellbeing, such harassment does need to be addressed. This duty, which is embedded in occupational health and safety legislation and also enshrined in the common law, is broad enough to cover not only the physical safety of teaching and non-teaching staff, but their mental wellbeing as well.
A Parent Code of Conduct (Code) is an important tool in the school’s arsenal against keyboard warriors. It allows the school to issue a warning notice and ask for the messages to a particular staff member to cease. We’ve found a Code to be a useful tool for managing a parent’s behaviour, provided it is properly drafted and does not fall at the last hurdle, ie. fails to provide consequences for a breach.
What if the first approach fails?
The Victorian government has enacted a change to the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic) (Act) in June 2021 to establish the School Community Safety Order Scheme (Scheme).
How does it work?
The Scheme enables authorised persons to issue school community safety orders (Orders) to prohibit or restrain certain behaviours from occurring on school premises and school-related places, or in relation to school staff. Orders can be immediate or ongoing.
Orders may only be made and can only be issued to adults (18 years old or over) who are not staff members or students at the school. This may include parents or carers of students at the school, former students, friends or partners of students, former staff members or staff members from other schools and third-party contractors engaged by the school.
Orders can only be made if the school has looked at other ways to address the behaviour, considered the mandatory considerations for Orders and an Order is found to be the least restrictive means available of addressing the behaviour.
Types of Orders
There are two types of Orders that principals and other authorised persons can issue to prohibit or limit different types of behaviours:
- Immediate School Community Safety Orders
- Prohibit a person from entering or remaining on any school-related place specified in the Order and remain in effect for a maximum of 14 days.
- May be made orally or in writing where the person who is subject to the Order poses an unacceptable and imminent risk of:
- harm to another person on school premises or to a member of the school community at a school-related place;
- causing significant disruption to school activities; or
- interfering with the wellbeing, safety or educational opportunities of students.
- Ongoing School Community Safety Orders
- apply for a maximum period of 12 months; and
- may prohibit or limit a person from:
- entering or remaining on any school-related place;
- approaching, or causing another person to approach, within 25 metres of any staff member or class of staff members within or outside of any school-related;
- contacting any staff member or class of staff members; and/or
- using or communicating on a communication platform owned, controlled by, or established in relation to the relevant school.
The standard required to create an Order is lower than that required for a personal safety intervention order, which may only be granted by court order. In our experience, the making of an Order under the Scheme is an important addition to a school’s suite of initiatives to address the issue of parents harassing staff at the school.
How we can help
We have assisted many schools in the creation of a School Community Safety Order Policy. We are able to advise you whether one is necessary and assist you in reviewing your current Parent Code of Conduct to determine whether it needs updating.
Contact us
Please contact us for more detailed and tailored help.
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