At times it is necessary for schools to obtain information on students. In order to respect the rights of the student and ensure that the school is acting within the law, it is important to have an understanding of the legislation. In particular, some sections of the Education Act enable the school to obtain specific information on students from a range of agencies.
Several pieces of legislation allow schools to collect specific information on students from certain agencies where the circumstance is in keeping with the intent of the act and the information is collected according to the specified guidelines.
The relevant legislation includes:
- Children & Young Persons (Care & Protection) Act 1988
- Education Amendment (School Attendance ) Act 2009
- Ombudsman Act 1974
- Education Act 1990
- Commission for Children & Young People Act 1998
Several documents have been developed to assist schools to understand their obligations in this area. These include:
- The Guide for NSW Non-Government Schools on Reporting, Disclosing or Exchanging Personal Information for the purposes of Child Wellbeing
- Guidelines issued under Part 5a of the Education Act 1990 for the Management of Health and Safety Risks Posed by Students' Violent Behaviour.
These documents are available to principals and can be downloaded from 'Useful Documents' on this page.
The mandatory guidelines, under Part 5a, outline the requirements for schools to obtain information relevant to the assessment and management of the risk posed by violent behaviour from certain government agencies and to provide the Director-General of the Department of Education and Training with the power to direct that a student with violent behaviour can only attend the government school that is able to safely accommodate the student.