This policy explains what ‘duty of care’ means, how teaching staff may discharge their duty of care to students, and circumstances in which non-teaching staff, external providers and volunteers may owe students a duty of care.

The School Education Act 1999 requires all enrolled student to attend school or participate in an educational program of the school. Principals are required to record and monitor student attendance and develop appropriate strategies to restore attendance for students with persistent absence.

The Department registers home educators and evaluates their educational programs and children’s progress.

The Grievance Framework provides resolution options, processes and resources to address employee grievances.

Animals can enrich students’ learning experiences, however schools must adhere to consistent and high quality practices for the care and use of animals. Staff are to adhere to the processes of the Schools Animal Ethics Committee for the use of animals for any scientific teaching activity and/or adhere to the processes of Agricultural Education for the use of animals on school farms.

The Staff Conduct and Discipline policy applies to all employees of the Department of Education and describes the expectations the Department has of its employees and outlines the processes that will be implemented should an allegation of a breach be made.