Duty of Care

Rationale:
All staff members have a duty of care for fellow staff members and students. Ilim College of Australia aims to establish good order and harmony within the school community and to ensure that the school, home and total community share in fostering the development of acceptable behaviour of the children. Ilim College of Australia aims to ensure that learning takes place in a safe, happy, positive and caring environment which provides programs and organisational structures which aid the development of self discipline, responsibility and respect for others. The duty of care policy at the school ensures this development by providing a positive and caring environment in which the experience of teaching and learning is enhanced for all.

Guidelines for implementation:
The following guidelines come from Teachers, students and the Law, a quick reference guide for teachers, produced by VIEU

Be aware of the school’s duty of care
The school’s duty of care is broader than a teacher’s and includes:

• Adequate supervision of students,
• Protecting students from dangerous situations and activities,
• Maintaining sage premises and equipment and
• Protecting children from bullying and excessively rough play by other students (see discipline policy)

• Be an active and vigilant teacher. The courts recognise that accidents happen in schools and a teacher will have breached their duty of care if
• the injury was reasonably foreseeable, i.e. not completely unexpected
• the injury occurred because the teacher did not carry out their responsibilities in a sufficiently careful manner.

• Teachers on yard duty can be implicated if they had failed to do their rostered yard duty and as a result, no teacher was present to stop a student fight.

Schools and teachers have a duty of care to students whenever the school is exercising control over the students’ actions. This includes:

• In classrooms, laboratories, computer rooms, library, etc anywhere curricula or co-curricula activities are taking place.
• In outdoor and indoor play areas
• During sport and physical education activities
• When students are moving about the school
• During excursions and school campus.

The duty is owed throughout the school day

How careful do you have to be?
A court will consider the following questions when deciding whether sufficient care has been exercised:

• Was that particular event foreseeable?
• The age and capacity of the students (a barbecue can be a hazard for prep. children but not for year 12)
• The behaviour of the group and the need for more supervision
• Student/ teacher ratios