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What's New? Changes to the Our Policies Website April - June 2008
This notification is intended to provide a brief and helpful summary of changes to Department of Education and Training policy. It will be published quarterly on the Notifications page of the Our Policies website.
D08/0154498
WHAT’S NEW? CHANGES TO THE OUR POLICIES
WEBSITE APRIL – JUNE
2008
This notification is intended to provide a brief and helpful summary of changes to
Department of Education and Training (Department) policy. It will be published quarterly on the
Notifications page of the Our Policies website.
NEW POLICIES
The following policies have been added:
- Exclusions
- Information and Communication Technologies Security
- Recruitment and Selection of Level 4, 5 and 6 Principal Positions
REVISED POLICIES
The following policies have been revised:
- Enrolment
- Financial Management in Schools: Finance and Accounting
- Home Education Advisory Panels
- Official Air Travel
- School Improvement and Accountability
NEW MISCELLANEOUS
The following information has been added:
- Promoting your School: Online Marketing Toolkit
- Intellectual Property Management Guidelines for TAFEWA Colleges 2008
REVISED MISCELLANEOUS
The following information has been revised:
- Culture Strong, Career Proud: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Strategy 2008-10 and 2008 Action Plan
- Certificates of Currency
- Level Three Classroom Teacher 2008: Handbook for Applicants
- Publications Writing Style Guide
OVERVIEW OF CHANGES – NEW POLICIES
The School Discipline Advisory Panel policy has been revised and replaced by the Exclusions policy. The exclusion process has been streamlined by the:
- reduction of the number of documents required for the School Exclusion Report from twelve to four for compulsory age students and from ten to five for students beyond compulsory school age;
- reduction of the time needed to prepare a school report from two-three days to two-three hours;
- separation of the exclusion procedures from the Behaviour Management in Schools policy for easier access;
- inclusion of a district report to reduce the information schools need to provide;
- provision of templates for all documents required of schools and districts;
- preparation of simple guideline documents for schools, districts and parents;
- centralisation of the preparation of letters for the Director General’s signature; and
- increased central support to districts.
Additional amendments to the procedures include the requirement for districts to provide an update on the student’s placement after the exclusion process.
Information
and Communication Technologies Security
The Information and Communication Technologies
policy is a new policy that directs all staff and contractors to protect all
computerised information and computer infrastructure and services from theft
and from unauthorised access, disclosure, modification and destruction. It outlines responsibilities and authorises
examinations of security compromises by the Standards and Integrity
Directorate.
The previous policy entitled Information Privacy and Security has been deleted.
Recruitment
and Selection of Level 4, 5 and 6 Principal Positions
The Department seeks to recruit the best and most suitably qualified person for each vacant principal position and ensure that there is a streamlined, efficient, fair and equitable recruitment and selection process that is free from bias. The process to be followed is specific to recruiting staff to fill vacant level 4, 5 and 6 principal positions for permanent appointment. The desired outcome of the policy is a streamlined, efficient process for selection and appointment of the most suitable and available person.
OVERVIEW OF CHANGES – REVISED POLICIES
The Enrolment Policy has recently been reviewed and updated. Although the policy statement has been simplified, the background section rewritten and new sections added, the intent of the policy and procedures are similar to the previous policy.
The main changes to the policy are listed below:
- An underlying principle of the policy is that students cannot be enrolled in more than one school. To cater for students attending programs outside of the enrolling school, procedures have been developed for alternative attendance arrangements. This section takes into account enrolments of students with disabilities and new arrangements resulting from the raising of the school leaving age.
- After extensive consultation, procedures for the enrolment of students with disabilities have been developed.
- In an attempt to reduce the number of Department policies, procedures for enrolling students at the Hospital School Services have been absorbed into the policy.
- Interstate and intrastate protocols for the transfer of students and student’s records are given in the new update.
- A table has been included to assist principals’ awareness of the conditions applying to enrolment of visa holders.
- To overcome the lack of policy direction for children enrolling at designated Aboriginal Kindergartens a section on this has been included.
- As requested by the Ministerial Council for Education Employment Training and Youth Affairs, a procedure is included for the enrolment of students arriving from interstate or overseas.
- The requirement to inform the Curriculum Council of the enrolment of students from Years 8-12 has been added.
Financial
Management in Schools: Finance and Accounting
The current Financial Management in Schools: Finance and Accounting policy, last updated in December 2007, has been amended in accordance with changes to the Treasurer’s Instructions. The instructions now stipulate that schools are not required to apply for write-off for any cash shortages.
The current Home Education Advisory Panel policy has been reviewed and updated. There have been no amendments to the procedures within the policy. However, the policy has been updated to the current policy template, and Policy Statement, Relevant Legislation and Contact Details sections have been added. There have also been minor changes to the nomenclature within the policy, for example District Director has been updated to Director Schools.
The Official Air Travel policy has been updated to incorporate legislative requirements. The changes include:
- changes to approval authority - approval processes have been amended to include approval by a Deputy Director General, which was not in existence previously;
- the inclusion of air charter services - the use of air charter services is common and necessary in many remote areas. The use of these services is not being addressed in the current policy; and
- the inclusion of safety and security procedures - due to increasing political and social uncertainties in many overseas countries, officers undertaking international travel must take additional precaution for their safety. This new section is being included in the policy to ensure that the officers plan and undertake the necessary measures.
School
Improvement and Accountability
The School Accountability Framework has been revised, and the School Improvement and Accountability policy developed. The changes include:
- addition of a fifth policy point about school review to accommodate the new Standards Reviews and external reviews;
- addition of requirements for reporting on legislative and designated policy and programs to the policy point on reporting; and
- addition of staff accountability to incorporate what teachers are accountable for (absent from the previous policy) and it now paraphrases the Education Act 1999.
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