Compliance challenges
Despite time constraints, Tasmanian schools are ahead of the pack
CONTEMPORARY schooling is facing an ever-increasing plethora of demands for compliance.
This is linked to legislation and is necessary for schools to meet the expectations on them. This can be from risk assessment and management to occupational health and safety.
Owing to school principals needing to sign off on the observance of compliance regulations and meet increasing demands for evidence of doing so, school compliance officers are coming to be seen as a necessity. The reasons are twofold.
Principals facing heavy workloads in relation to the core business of their schools — educating children and ensuring staff are able to achieve the best outcomes — are time poor.
To upload on principals the need to meet compliance requirements increases their workload.
The second reason is — given that compliance is mandatory — a way to meet the expectations is to appoint a compliance officer. These are people who are able to act not independently of the principal, but reduce the workload and then be expected to brief the principal in not only compliance expectations, but also on an appropriate course of action.
One obvious area is the response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Abuse, mandatory reporting and other complex legislative directives.
The compliance officer’s responsibilities are not merely to be informed of changes in legislation.
These duties, according to Vince Muscatello, principal of St Paul’s Primary School in Mildura may be: “…the completion and maintenance of risk assessments, risk and compliance registers (accidents, risk alerts, and near misses) and insurance, the co-ordi- nation of risk workshops, compliance audits and investigations as required to assist the principals to drive a culture of continuous improvement.”
Tasmanian schools are ahead of the pack in terms of compliance. In an article in the journal Independent Education last year, Independent Education Union (Vic-Tas) member Peter Hayes spoke about his role as a compliance officer working across a number of Catholic schools in Hobart.
He observed the following in what is the impetus for change and schools increasingly using compliance officers.
“It is being driven by a combination of factors or forces: legislation, with the potential for massive fines if you get it wrong; community expectations; our insurers; expectations; increased litigation fears; and the schools themselves wanting to be seen as model, modern schools with WHS [workplace health and safety ]at the forefront.
“The legislation is complex, and the Codes of Practice (CoP) are very prescriptive and easily changed by Safe Work Australia.
“So instead of dealing with outdated laws which have not kept up with the times, the CoPs are kept updated. The challenge is for schools to be to be on top of these changes at all times.
“Previously the principal was responsible for everything WHS, and now there is personal liability on staff, contractors etc, as well.”
Given that there is likely to be an increase in legislative requirements rather than a reduction of them, there is a question of time.
While principals may not have enough time, it is critically important that nothing slips through the observance net of legislative expectations.
Moreover, the role of the compliance officer requires a person with excellent communication skills. This goes hand-in-hand with the responsibilities inherent with the role as Peter Hayes explains.
“The position is also required on occasion to take an authoritative approach with principals, business managers, staff etc, to ensure that legal obligations are met,” he said.
Schooling is increasingly the subject of litigious review from bullying to classroom performance, safety and policy development. It is clear that as the paperwork mounts then to find a way through the growing expectations, principals need to feel that all relevant documentation is being updated and maintained, let alone legal requirements fulfilled on time.
Then again, what happens when the compliance officer feels overwhelmed and is stretched to meet deadlines? This is sure to come in time. Something to think about.