Issues of duty of care, including its non-delegable form that is closely associated with teaching, and issues of negligence are critical for a safe and inclusive learning environment for students. Accordingly, teachers who are aware of their legal responsibilities as outlined in their duty of care can save themselves both claims of negligence and incidents where students are harmed physically and mentally. Policy for educators tasked with preserving student safety are outlined in law, and key of these include mandatory reporting of child abuse, supervision for the prevention of injury, and protection from concerns such as bullying, particularly involving the internet. Duty of care owed to students by teachers is essentially the responsibility for maintaining their wellbeing. It is a legally enforceable duty in tort law, so it is important that teachers follow it directly. However, negligence can arise as a legal dispute when a plaintiff, usually a student, demonstrates that duty of care was breached, and they were caused harm as a direct result (Stewart, D. Knott, A. 2002). This is a particularly important legal issue to note, as teachers owe their students non-delegable duty of care due to their vulnerability and special dependence, which cannot be outsourced to any third party (Raniolo, R. n.d.). Consequently, teachers must be fully aware of the responsibilities they hold, and the potential dangers their students may face in their school environment.
Mandatory reporting of abuse against students are imperative for protecting them from dangerous situations at home, in which sexual, emotional, or even physical abuse may be occurring. In South Australia, Sections 6, 10, and 11 of the Children’s Protection Act 1993 detail that var...
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...7. ‘Web-based training in child maltreatment for future mandated reporters’ Child Abuse and Neglect, Vol. 31 (Issue 6) pp. 671-678.
Hammes, R.1979. ‘The tort and the teacher’ The Clearing House. 53, (2), pp. 104-108.
Newnham, H. 2000, ‘When is a teacher or school liable in negligence’, Australian Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. 25 (Issue 1)
Potts, A, 2006, ‘Schools as dangerous places’, Educational Studies, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 319-330, La Trobe University
Clauss-Ehlers, C. S. 2006. Diversity training for classroom teaching, pp. 125-134, New York, NY: Springer
Clelland, T, and Cushman, P. 2011 ‘A health promoting schools approach to bullying’, Set: Research Information for Teachers, Wellington: Academic OneFile, accessed 20/3/14
Roberts-Pittman, B. Slavens, J. and Balch, B. 2012. ‘The Basics of Cyberbullying’, School Administrator, Vol. 69 (Issue 4) pp. 32-37
A teacher’s most important duty is to protect the students they are in charge of. This duty includes both reasonably protecting students from harm and, when a student is harmed, reporting it to the proper authorities (Gooden, Eckes, Mead, McNeal, & Torres, 2013, pp. 103-109). There have been many court cases that reiterate this duty of school staff. One such case is Frugis v. Bracigliano (2003) where many staff at a school failed in their duty to protect students and allowed abuse to continue for years.
Western Australian Department of Education. (2007). Duty of care for students. WA: Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www.det.wa.edu.au/policies/detcms/portal/
• The role of school and college staff is highlighted as being especially important in safeguarding children because of their position to identify concerns early on, provide early intervention and to
I agree that teachers must think before they act and process the best consequence to the action that he or she will or will not do in class. The book makes a point on talking about how teachers must thoughtfully decide if what they are doing every single day. I believe that that is a crucial quality every teacher must have in order to avoid major issues in the classroom. It is amazing how much can change when a teacher, or anyone, thinks about what they are doing before they do it and what are the possible consequences are based on their action. Better than thinking about it, if they talk to one another, as teachers, on how they should act, this would help them even more to make the right decision. I also agree teachers deserve the right to due process, just like everyone else in their profession. Being a teacher is very difficult, and it is very important that teachers are not constantly scared to lose their job with one bad choice. There are so many parents out there who will immediately try to get the teacher fired in any way they can in order for their child to be happy which is very threatening to teachers everywhere. The fact that due process is given to teachers is extremely important for the sanity of teacher’s minds and their performance as teachers. Lastly, I agree with tort liability because teachers must be on high alert at all times with their classroom. Any possibilities of injury in the classroom must be thought about by the teacher and prevented in anyway. Teachers are one hundred percent liable to what goes on in their classroom and they need to pay attention to all kinds of behavior that could lead to danger. Teachers never should be able to say that it was the student’s fault that they were injured in their classroom with their
Giovannoni, J. M., & Becerra, R. M. Defining child abuse. New York: Free Press, 1996.
Another major reason why juveniles are ending up in the juvenile justice system is because many schools have incorporate the zero tolerance policy and other extreme school disciplinary rules. In response to violent incidents in schools, such as the Columbine High School massacre, school disciplinary policies have become increasingly grave. These policies have been enacted at the school, district and state levels with the hopes of ensuring the safety of students and educators. These policies all rely on the zero tolerance policy. While it is understandable that protecting children and teachers is a priority, it is not clear that these strict policies are succeeding in improving the safety in schools.
When working practitioners must not only protect the children they work with when in the school setting and off site, but also themselves. Whether in school or off-site the school safeguarding policy should be referred to, to give guidance and adhered to at all times.
The mistreatment of children is classified by four types of actions: physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, and neglect. Although, in recent years several steps have been taken to prevent the maltreatment of children it seems that child abuse is still prevalent in today's society. Countless children around the world suffer from some form of abuse and in many cases the same child experiences more than one. There is no exact number of victims because it difficult to measure the exact amount of children going through abuse. Child abuse almost always occurs in private, and because abuse is often hidden from view and its victims may be too young or too frightened to speak out, experts in child welfare suggest that its true prevalence
Shore, Marietta Saravia. (2011). “Diverse Teaching Strategies for Diverse Learners” Chapter 2. Educating Everybody's Children: Diverse Teaching Strategies for Diverse Learners. http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/107003/chapters/Diverse-Teaching-Strategies-for-Diverse-Learners.aspx
McQuade, III, Samuel, James Colt, and Nancy Meyer. Cyber Bullying: Protecting Kids and Adults from Online Bullies. First Edition. Road West, Westport: Praeger Publishers, 2009. 47-49. Print.
The issue of school safety has become a controversial topic in the United States, due to tragic acts of violence occurring on a daily basis. American citizens should never have to cope with the negative impact of school violence, no matter how often they hear about the tragedies (Jones, "Parents" 1). In the past, schools were viewed as a safe place for children to get an education. Recently, the concern over violence in schools has taken a toll on many parents, school administrators, and legislatures (Eckland 1). Studies have shown that there are over 3 million acts of violence in American public schools each year. Not all occurrences are serious and deadly, but they occur on a daily basis throughout our country (Jones, “School” 6). This has caused many parents to worry about the well-being of their children while they are in class. This has also led to an increase in questions and concerns by parents and guardians. Many people have asked, “What are you doing about safety and security on my child’s campus” (Schimke 2). School violence is the cause of elevated worry and fear for their children, and school districts should enforce better security.
Orange, C. (2000). 25 biggest mistakes teachers make and how to avoid them. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
In recent years, child abuse has become, for the first time, an issue worthy of much
Tatchyn, Elizabeth and Bottom Line Research. “Negligence and the Parental Duty to Supervise Children”. Alberta: Bottom Line Research. Web. http://www.bottomlineresearch.ca/articles/articles/pdf/Negligence%20and%20the%20Parental%20Duty%20to%20Supervise%20Children.pdf.
...feguarding ensures everyone working with students are responsible to respond to their needs, that includes children's ages 0 to 18 and vulnerable adults. All teachers are responsible for maintaining a safe learning environment, that not only evolves keeping learners safe form physical, emotional, sexual and neglect abuses but also covers Health and Safety and others policies and procedures. If a student discloses something inappropriate has happened '' You CANNOT promise to keep this information secret or confidential'' , you have a duty to respond (do not ask questions), record and report it to a student advisor team or your line-manager.