The Victorian Government is giving schools stronger protections and making it easier to ban aggressive and violent parents or carers from entering school grounds.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Education Mr Ben Carroll has released the statutory review into the School Community Safety Order Scheme, which has empowered school principals to issue orders for parents or carers engaging in harmful threatening or abusive behaviour to leave school grounds since 2022.
The scheme also allows schools to limit the engagement of aggressive adults with school staff, including on school-related online platforms and has built in protections to support children whose parents or carers are subject to an order, particularly if they are vulnerable.
The recent review found that school staff and principals at Victorian government, independent and Catholic schools back the scheme as an important tool for protecting school communities which should remain in place.
The importance of the scheme was highlighted in the review through real incidents experienced by schools, including one parent who had a 12-month order issued against them for aggression directed at another student who was not their child.
Another school used the scheme to issue an immediate 14-day order – extended to nine months – against a parent who engaged in unacceptable aggression towards school staff.
The review also identified opportunities to strengthen and refine the scheme, including reducing the admin work that principals need to complete to issue an order, ensuring they have more capacity to support the students who need them.
Other recommendations include streamlining processes for issuing orders – intended as a last resort option – and clarifying the protections available for school staff on social media.
In response to this review and its recommendations, the government will now begin working to strengthen the scheme.
As part of this work, consultation on how best to implement the recommendations has commenced with the launch of an online survey for principals, teachers, parents and carers to share their views.
To have your say, visit engage.vic.gov.au/keeping-school-staff-safe
“When teachers and school staff feel protected and supported, they can focus their energy on what matters most – giving our students the best possible education and helping them reach their full potential,” Mr Carroll said.
“All Victorians deserve to be safe at work, and we have clear expectations of how adults should behave and show respect within our school communities.”
“The majority of parents and carers work well with schools to resolve any concerns however harmful behaviour affects our students and their education – that is why we are taking further action.”
