VIC Child Protection Module Update - December 2019

Owned by Lars Field (Deactivated)
Last updated: Sept 15, 2020
4 min read

Summary of Policy Update

Amendments have been made to your Child Protection Program to:

  • accommodate school group governance structures

  • Mandatory Reporting and WWCC legal updates

  • legislative updates relating to reporting to the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT)

 School Group Governance Structures

A number of CompliSpace’s education clients are part of a larger group governance structure, rather than being individually governed. For this reason, it’s important for the CompliSpace Primary Product to allow Group Administrators to insert content at appropriate points in the Program to allow for contextualisation and an accurate reflection of the governance structure.

If your school is not a part of a group, you will still need to go through the Onboarding Module for Child Protection again and set the Group Variables to “No.”

Your CompliSpace Consultant can assist you in this process.

Mandatory Reporting Updates

As you would be aware, the Children Legislation Amendment Act2019 (Vic) was passed on 10 September 2019. The Act affects mandatory reporting and working with children check obligations that apply to schools.

The Amending Act was passed on 10 September 2019 and will commence on proclamation or, if no proclamation is made, on 1 September 2020. 

The Amending Act amended the Children Youth and Families Act 2005 (Vic). The effect of these amendments is to impose on “persons in religious ministry” the same mandatory reporting obligations that already apply other people who work with children, such as teachers and police officers. The amendments also make it clear that mandatory reporting laws will apply even if the information about the child is obtained during religious confession(otherwise privileged under section 127 of the Evidence Act 2008 (Vic)).

For more details on this aspect of the changes, see our School Governance article: “Persons in Religious Ministry” in Victoria Will Soon Be Subject to Mandatory Reporting Laws.

The Amending Act also amended the Working with Children Act 2005(Vic). The effect of these amendments is to limit a person’s right to appeal a “negative notice.” A “negative notice” is the notice given to a person if their application for a working with children check is denied.

The following changes have been made to your Mandatory Reporting policy:

  • “a person in religious ministry” added to the list of mandatory reporter

  • a definition of “a person in religious ministry”

The following change has been made to the “Negative Notices” section of your Working with Children Checks Policy:

Original Version: Applicants can appeal a Negative Notice by making an application to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal within 28 days of the decision.

Updated Version: In limited circumstances, applicants can appeal a Negative Notice by making an application to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal within 28 days of the decision.

Changes to Reporting to the VIT

The Education Legislation Amendment (Victorian Institute of Teaching, TAFE and Other Matters) Act 2018 was passed by the Victorian Parliament on 26 July 2018, and the relevant sections came into effect on 1 September 2019.The changes imposed additional obligations on principals and registered teachers to report certain matters to the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT). Specifically:

  • registered teachers must notify the VIT if they have been committed for trial or convicted or found guilty of certain specified crimes, including sexual offences, drug offences and assault, and

  • principals must notify the VIT if a registered teacher employed by them:

    • is charged with or convicted or found guilty of certain specified crimes, including sexual offences, drug offences and assault

    • has been given a negative notice (ie, refused a Working with Children Check).

For more information about the changes see our School Governance article: New Victorian Bill to Require WWC Declarations from All Registered Teachers.

We have made amendments to the following policies:

Conduct that is Reportable to the Victorian Institute of Teaching

This has been expanded and substantially rewritten to comprehensively address new and existing requirements. We have replaced your existing Policy with the revised version. The updated Policy includes practical guidance on when and how to notify the VIT as well as background information on relevant legislation and a list of Key Definitions to make the Policy easier to follow.

Child Protection Record Keeping

We have added a section to the Child Protection and Record Keeping Policy called “Records of Teacher Registration and VIT Notifications.”

2The new section notes that the school maintains a register of teachers that includes a record of any notifications made to the VIT about a teacher. The new section also includes a variable that schools can fill in to record the name and position of the person responsible for the register of teachers.

Updates to Learning Content

We have updated the Child Protection Reporting to External Agencies module in your Child Protection Training Program. We have updated section 5 of that module –“Conduct Reportable to the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT)” to incorporate the new notification obligations.

This is available in your CompliLearn Portal.

What to Do Next

The update is now ready for actioning. Please review the changes by selecting “Update” to continue to the next screen and following your usual update process. Please remember to go in to the Welcome to CompliSpace Module under Child Protection and to fill in the additional Context Keys from this Update that are highlighted in orange.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact your CompliSpace Consultant on 1300 132 090.