Law and Order

Increase your capacity to lead your school's approach to manage its legal and policy obligations and risks.

Law and Order will equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to navigate Department policy requirements and the legal issues that arise in your school.

Leave with a better understanding of key legal concepts and obligations and Department policy, and with supporting resources that relate to difficult issues such as parent disputes, inappropriate behaviour and duty of care.

You will improve your ability to respond to the operational compliance and legal issues that arise.

There are intakes designated for:

• law and order overview (parts 1 and 2)
• duty of care
• family disputes and intervention orders
• discrimination and human rights
• policy framework (local policy and Department policy - PAL)
• Child Safety and Minimum Standards. 

View dates and apply lists the topic for each intake.

Audience

Designed for Victorian government school principals, assistant principals, business managers and teacher leaders.

Facilitator 

This workshop is facilitated by senior and experienced staff including lawyers from the Department’s Legal Division who have spent many years advising schools on legal and policy compliance issues.

Structure of program

Law and Order comprises six 60-90-minute workshops.  

Workshop 1 provides a summary of key legal and policy requirements. This workshop is delivered in two parts. You are encouraged to attend Overview Part 1 prior to attending Overview 2, although it’s not essential.

Workshops 2 to 8 focus on specific legal and policy requirements and afford you the opportunity to deep-dive into a topic.

Each workshop explores a range of resources, including case studies and policies, and is designed to be interactive through group discussion and presentations.

Note: you will need to attend Workshop 1 before attending Workshops 2 to 8. 

Workshops 2 to 8 are standalone, so you can choose which ones to attend, depending on your specific needs and experiences.

Workshop 1 - Overview Part 1

This workshop will explore key areas including:

• seeking legal advice from the legal division
• policy requirements – both local school policy and department policy applying to schools
• family law issues including intervention orders and family court orders
• managing challenging parent behaviours
• duty of care
• discrimination law (with a focus on students with disabilities)
• privacy and information sharing

Workshop 1 - Overview Part 2

This workshop explores:

• privacy/CISS/FVISS
• social media
• suspension/expulsion
• enrolment and attendance
• child safe standards
• reportable conduct
• workers screening.

Workshop 2 - Family Disputes and Intervention Orders 

This workshop will look closely at family disputes and intervention orders, specifically:

• family law
• disputes
• intervention order issues 
• inappropriate parent or visitor behaviour arising in schools.

Workshop 3 - Other Legal Issues

This workshop explores a range of topics, including: 

• privacy and information sharing
• suspension
• expulsion
• child safety. 

Many of these topics are not covered in other workshops.  

Workshop 4 - Duty of Care 

During this workshop, you will explore duty of care through case studies based on real examples and have the chance to understand the practical ways in which you can discharge your duty of care. 

Workshop 5 - Discrimination and Human Rights 

This workshop will support you to understand the key concepts in discrimination law, with a focus on students with disability, and provides an overview of the Charter of Human Rights. 

Workshop 6 - Policy Frameworks

This workshop provides an overview of some key Department policies applying to schools, available on the Policy and Advisory Library, and explains tips for local policy development using the School Policy Templates Portal. 

Workshop 7 - Child Safety and Minimum Standards

This workshop provides an overview of the steps schools need to take to comply with the Minimum Standards for school registration, including the Child Safe Standards. It explains the Minimum Standards Assessment process, shares ‘top tips’ for schools to become and remain compliant, provides a deep dive on key risk areas, and outlines the compliance supports and resources available to schools.  

Workshop 8 - Challenging Parent/Carer Behaviour

This workshop will support you to understand the tools and resources available to help prevent and manage challenging behaviours of parents, carers and others in the school community, including whilst on school grounds, and in communications with the school.  By working through case studies, you will develop greater understanding of the supports available and when it might be appropriate to use the School Community Safety Order Scheme, Trespass Warning Notices or other tools at your disposal to address such behaviour.

Workshop 9 - Contracts, tips for managing business matters

Hosted by Department of Education commercial lawyers – Law and Order provides guidance and advice for Principals and other school staff responsible for managing the commercial side of school operations.

Drawing on insights gained from providing legal advice to hundreds of schools each year, this program delves into the most common types of contracts that schools manage. Participants will leave with a better understanding of how to effectively identify legal risks and negotiate with suppliers to achieve positive school outcomes. Policy support, templates and other resources available to schools will also be provided.

Learning outcomes

You will learn:

• about your school’s key legal and policy obligations
• when to seek legal or other advice
• strategies and steps for reducing legal risk in relation to:
  • family disputes and intervention orders
  • effective responses to disputes and managing inappropriate behaviours of parents and visitors
  • key legal obligations in relation to students with disabilities
  • duty of care, including bullying, excursions, camps, social media
  • the legal framework and Department policy underpinning enrolment, attendance, suspension and expulsion
  • information sharing and privacy.