The Australian Education Reporter
For the record
ACCURATE record keeping means that school managers can quickly access relevant information to maintain and improve the quality of their decision making, reporting, and long term planning.
Schools should have a policy in place for records management which includes a records review schedule, a process for identifying short or long term storage, a procedure for duplicate records and drafts, efficient document storage, and identification of disposable records and a disposal process.
With the rise of digital apps, more schools are moving to electronic records management for rapid sorting, searching, and retrieval of records.
Schools should consider the dangers of inadequate and insecure digital storage – while it can save space, be cost efficient and easy to use, some electronic records can be hacked.
This is an issue for schools who have a responsibility to teachers, parents, and students to maintain private and confidential information.
For example, in May last year personal student and student family information was illegally downloaded from a Melbourne High school system and used to send hoax emails to parents.
Schools should consider the dangers of inadequate and insecure digital storage – while it can save space, be cost efficient and easy to use, some electronic records can be hacked.
Australia does not have a national records management policy for all schools.
According to the WA Department of Education Retention and Disposal Schedule for School College and Campus Records, schools must review active files on a regular basis to determine whether they can be destroyed, stored for destruction at a later date, stored for transfer to the State Records Office of WA at a later date, or remain as part of the active file system.
Lists must also be kept by schools, colleges and campuses of all records that are destroyed or archived.
According to the Independent Schools Victoria website, Independent schools are required to keep some records, the retention of which is optional but highly recommended.
For more information on your schools responsibilities for records management and disposal, contact your State or Territory department of education office or independent schools association.