The purpose of this report is to give an informative summary of the Western Australian Department of Education Duty of Care (WADoE DOC) for Students Policy, 2012. The term “duty of care” dates back to the early 1900’s, when in 1932 a court in the United Kingdom considered a case which involved a decomposed snail found at the bottom of a ginger beer bottle, causing the consumer to suffer from nervous shock and gastroenteritis.
The consumer was successful in bringing action against the manufacturer, as the manufacturer owed the consumer a duty of care and had breached it (Donoghue v. Stevenson, 1932). As a result a precedent was set. DOCUMENT ANALYSIS The purpose of the WADoE DOC for Students Policy is to clearly outline and explain, in simple language, the responsibility and duty of care which teachers, external providers, volunteers and non-teaching staff have towards students in the school environment today.
This includes the expectation that they would prevent, where possible, any harm befalling a student in their care. “The duty owed to students is not a duty to ensure that no harm will ever occur, but rather a duty to take reasonable care to avoid harm being suffered” (WADoE DOC for Students, 2012, p. 3 Section. 3 3. 1). The WADoE DOC for Students Policy outlines the following key points: what constitutes reasonable care – this will vary depending on the environment, the student’s age, their experience and ability.
What risk is involved in the varying school activities – are the grounds and equipment safe? Is supervision required? Is medical assistance accessible (if required)? What is the physical, emotional and fiscal cost of eliminating the risk? What are the liabilities if the duty of care is breached? The Policy also addresses issues such as: the duty of care owed to students who are on school grounds before and after school hours, the time the school’s duty of care commences and ends, what is required when students participate in sporting activities.
(both at and away from school), what care is required when students attend off-site excursions, and care of students from other schools during school visitations. With an ever-rising trend in litigation, policies such as the WADoE DOC for Students policy are essential, as it not only outlines the level of care required for students in today’s teaching environment and the consequences of not meeting those requirements, but also guards and protects teachers and carers alike against litigation.
All teaching staff and non-teaching staff, volunteers and external providers who agree to care for students when asked are affected, governed and subject to the WADoE DOC for Students Policy.
ACTION PLANS SCENARIO 1 A student is consistently interrupting other students during a classroom lesson. In dealing with this student’s interruptions, the teacher sends the student out of the classroom for ‘time out’. The teacher tells the student to wait outside the classroom door until asked to return to the room.
This reprimanded student is no longer in the teacher’s view. The issue concerned with this scenario is that a disruptive student has been sent from the classroom and is no longer in the teacher’s view. The WADoE DOC for Students Policy clearly states that “provision of adequate supervision” is required of all teaching staff. If a student is outside of the classroom and out of the teacher’s view, then the teacher is not able to adequately discharge this requirement, leaving the child open to many potentially harmful or even life-threatening risks.
Although removing the child from the classroom temporarily alleviates the immediate problem and effectively allows other students in the room to continue learning in a more peaceful environment, it does, in fact, put the disruptive child at great risk, as the outside environment is not controlled and is always changing. Teaching staff must have “effective discipline strategies which will provide – in all instances, not only in the classroom – an effective management plan”.
(Barker, Nanlohy, Nosworthy, Sinclair, and Whitton, (2010), p.24) so the teacher can be ready in almost all circumstances to deal with difficult students. Rather than send the child from the classroom the teacher could employ several different solutions to meet the immediate problem. The teacher could ask the child to sit at the back of the classroom alone, thereby allowing the student to still participate in the lesson but hopefully stop the disruption. Other options include asking the child to attend lunch-time detention, or to write lines and take them home so the parents can sign off on them, thereby alerting the parents to the problem.
If the situation was out of hand and potentially putting other students at risk, you could send two students to the office to seek further help. By allowing the student to go out of sight, the teacher can no longer discharge his/her duty of care as the teacher has no control over the environment or what actions the student is taking. The consequences of this could be catastrophic. By disciplining the student within the controlled environment of the classroom, the teacher is able to keep the student safe from any foreseeable harm. SCENARIO 2.
A first year student teacher accompanies a supervising teacher out on duty at lunchtime. While on playground duty an incident occurs that requires the supervising teacher to accompany a student to the administration block, which is not within the supervision area. The supervising teacher asks the student teacher to remain on duty for her as she tends to the dilemma. This would mean the student teacher would be the only teacher supervising the designated play area at this time. The issues concerned with this scenario are: 1. Does the student teacher feel comfortable and confident supervising the playground without any help?
2. If another incident occurs does the student teacher have the ability to deal with the crisis? 3. Does the student teacher have first aid training if there is a medical emergency? 4. Is the student teacher aware of those students who require specialist care for diet or medical related issues? 5. If a parent presents in the playground to take a student, does the student teacher know of any special circumstances relating to custody issues? By definition of the WADoE DOC for Students policy a student teacher is known as a volunteer (WADoE DOC for Students policy, section 5.
9) and as such does “not have the same special duty relationship with students as do teaching staff, and unless requested and agree to do so, are not responsible for personally caring for students” (WADoE DOC for Students policy, p. 7, section 3. 4). The student teacher can therefore refuse to carry on supervising lunchtime duty alone. Prior to the supervising teacher leaving the student teacher in charge of lunchtime supervision, the supervising teacher “must satisfy themselves that the person is suitable for the task being assigned” (WADoE DOC for Students policy, p.
6) by asking the student teacher if they can handle a crisis or a medical emergency if one should arise, and whether they feel confident and comfortable supervising by themselves. The supervising teacher also has a responsibility to brief the student teacher of any and all knowledge relating to the students’ needs and circumstances and then, if, the student teacher agrees, the full duty of care falls to the student teacher and the supervising teacher can leave with the affected child to attend to the crisis.
Alternatively, the supervising teacher could send two students and the affected child to the office with a note for immediate attention, or just send two students to the office to request further assistance from a more qualified teaching staff member, and once that staff member arrives and is briefed of the situation, the supervising teacher may then leave with the affected child having dispensed their due diligence of care for those students in the playground, also still leaving the student teacher in the care of another supervising teacher.
If a student was injured while the supervising teacher was attending to the incident with another student, and did not take care to ensure those students left in the playground were safe, the parents of the injured child would be entitled to sue the school. CONCLUSION The WADoE DOC for Students policy clearly outlines what the responsibility of the teacher, external providers, volunteers and non-teaching staff’s duty of care is to their students in the current teaching environment and how this can be discharged.
It outlines what constitutes reasonable care and how to assess risk involved in school activities both on and off the school premises. It provides general information about the liability involved when the duty of care is breached. Sending a student out of the classroom environment, and as a result out of the teacher’s view, breaches the teacher’s duty of care to the student. The teacher needs to employ a form of disciplinary action where the student is in full view of the teacher or another member of teaching staff.
While asking a student teacher to relieve a supervising teacher on playground duty is acceptable (provided the student teacher agrees), it is not ideal when other arrangements can be made ensuring all students in the playground are maintained in a safe environment.
REFLECTION The WADoE DOC for Students policy has outlined to me the enormity of the role I will be undertaking as a teacher once I have completed this degree. I am not just educating the minds of students who are in my classroom, but I am also responsible for their general welfare and wellbeing.
In keeping students safe, and discharging my duty of care, I must be ever vigilant of my changing environment, and the objects in it, to ensure that my students do not cause injury to themselves or others. Prior to reading the WADoE DOC for Students policy I had not taken into consideration the fact that I may have students in my class with special needs, or specific medical conditions “for example haemophilia, asthma, a heart condition, brittle bones or epilepsy” (WADoE DOC for Students policy, p. 4, section 3.
1), or that I would need to assess the risk involved in school activities such as “ensuring grounds, premises and equipment are safe for use by students” (WADoE DOC for Students policy, p. 5, section 3. 3). I was also not aware that the duty of care extended (in some cases) beyond school hours. I have a broader understanding of what constitutes acceptable discipline, and that sending a child from the classroom would not fall into that category, where once I would have found this to be quite an acceptable form of punishment.
I understand what is expected of me as a student teacher and that if I am not comfortable in a situation where I am responsible for individual students, that it is acceptable to say no, and “to have this decision respected by members of the teaching staff” (WADoE DOC for Students policy, p. 7 section 3. 4) and it is in fact acceptable to be left in charge of students if I agree. I understand the background of the policy and where it originated, and what my legal rights and responsibilities are.
This document will be a tremendous support to me in my teaching role, as it clearly outlines and defines what my duty of care is to the children under my supervision.
REFERENCES: Department of Education WA. (2012). Duty of Care for Students. Donoghue v. Stevenson (1932) AC 562. Whitton, D. , Barker, K. , Nosworthy, Dinclair, C. , Nanlohy, P. (2010). Learning for Teaching: Teaching for Learning.