Schools have twofold issues in dealing with whistle blowing - the first in relation to staff who are often fearful of placing their careers in jeopardy and the second involving parents and students who are fearful of the child being victimised.

25. Whistle blowers

Evidence has shown that the two professions where complaints of discrimination and harassment are prevalent are health and education.  Consequently, whistle blowing is an important issue for schools to consider.

Boards should remember that:

"In all the known celebrated corporate collapses loyal and committed employees tried to alert management to their suspicions and concerns without success."

As children are placed in the care of Schools for a large part of the day, the Board, Principal and staff have a very significant duty of care.  It is important to put in place policies which will permit legitimate complaints to be raised, with those raising these issues being properly protected.  Boards must also be fully aware of the mandatory reporting provisions relating to child abuse.

To assist with achieving the objective of good governance, Boards should consider establishing a procedure to afford protection to whistleblowers, to the extent possible under the existing law.  Such a procedure would provide students, parents and others with confidentiality and anonymity, to the extent possible, and endeavour to ensure that they are not victimised or subjected to detrimental action.

We are all aware of the anonymous quote 'confession might be good for the soul but itís bad for the career prospects'.  Effective Boards should take all reasonable steps to ensure that this is not the case.

Therefore, Boards should give consideration to:

• Establishing a whistleblower protection procedure
• Ensuring that the procedure is implemented at the highest level
• Informing the school's community about the procedure
• Providing appropriate education and training about the procedure to those involved in managing or investigating disclosures

An example of a Whistleblower Protection Policy can be downloaded here (PDF).

Governance Guidelines

Across the Board

Purpose

Governance

Applying principles of good governance to schools

Legal status of schools

Primary legislation governing schools

Ancillary legislation

Funding and operating agreement

Structure of the school and delegation of powers

The key roles of the school board and its members

Legal obligations and potential liability of board members

Conflicts of interest

Charter for the school board

Constitution of the board and selection of board members

Orientation and ongoing education for board members

Retention of board members

Succession planning

The key roles of the chair

Legal obligations of the chair

The key roles of the principal

Relationship management

Performance management

Compliance and risk management

Board meetings

Establishing committees on the board

Whistle blowers

Additional resources

Appendix 1 – selection process

Appendix 2 – board skills matrix

Appendix 3 – performance management