School Law for New and Aspiring School Leaders
Issues covered include: Family Law and Schools: Your Duties and Responsibilities as a School Leader, Duty of Care and Workplace Health and Safety, The New Human Rights Act and the Right to Education, Obtaining the Appropriate Insurance: Protecting Your School and Staff, Social Media, Staff and the Law, Managing Challenging Behaviour of Staff, Bullying and Harassment,
Description
You’re a newly appointed, aspiring or experienced school leader. You want to succeed in your role or mentor and support fellow leaders and colleagues at your school. How can you make the most of the opportunity while effectively managing the legal risks and pitfalls you might encounter? When you become a leader it’s crucial that you and your colleagues engage with and understand the fundamental, emerging and evolving legal framework in which schools operate.
For Lawyers
Attend and earn 6 CPD points Legal Knowledge
For Teachers
Attend and earn 6 CPD points
Attending this conference will contribute 6 hours of CPD addressing the standards as listed from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining teacher registration in Queensland.
7.2 Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements: understand the implications of, and comply with, relevant legislative, administrative, organisational and professional requirements, policies and processes.
Session 1
Your Guide to Developing and Maintaining a Legally Compliant School
Chair: Ann Rebgetz, Principal, St James College
9.00am to 9.05am Opening Comments by the Chair
9.05am to 9.50am: Family Law and Schools: Your Duties and Responsibilities as a School Leader
- Understanding parenting arrangements and shared parental responsibility
- Parent and student consent: best practices for working with separated parents and divided and blended families
- What you need to know about privacy issues for students
- A guide to giving evidence in court proceedings
Presented by Kay Feeney, Director, Feeney Family Law
9.50am to 10.35am: Duty of Care and Workplace Health and Safety
- What is our ‘duty of care’ and where do you fit in?
- Who is responsible and who is liable?
- Exploring key legal and practical considerations about our duty of care in the classroom, the playground, and before and after school
- Identifying the role and limitations of consent forms, permission notes, waivers and disclaimers
Presented by Tracey Jessie, Jessie Lawyers
10.35am to 10.50am Morning Tea
10.50am to 11.35am: The New Human Rights Act and the Right to Education
Queensland now has laws to protect and promote human rights, including the right to education. Human rights protections will impact on schools where they are considered to be public entities. This presentation will cover:
- A summary of the right to education, other related rights and where schools fit in
- An explanation of ‘public entity’ including how it relates to independent and religious schools
- A description of the available complaints process
Presented by Matilda Alexander, Senior Lawyer, Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination, Legal Aid Queensland
11.35am to 12.20pm: Obtaining the Appropriate Insurance: Protecting Your School and Staff
- Who is at risk?
- What are the risks to insure against?
- Who are the potential claimants?
- Who is entitled to the cover?
- What to look for in school policies: the importance of retroactive dates and policy sub limits
Presented by Brett Heath, Special Counsel, Carter Newell
12.20pm to 12.25pm Final Q & A and Closing Comments by the Chair
Session 2
Critical Workplace Law Issues for Schools
Chair: Danny Clifford, Director, Clifford Goulson
1.20pm to 1.25pm Opening Comments by the Chair
1.25pm to 2.25pm: Social Media, Staff and the Law
- Where is the boundary between work and private life?
- Private views vs employer values & reputation
- Bullying
- To link or not to link
- Private settings are never ‘private’
Presented by Stephen Hughes, Principal Lawyer, Franklin Athanasellis Cullen
2.25pm to 3.25pm: Managing Challenging Behaviour of Staff
This session introduces SCARF, a brain based model for collaborating with and influencing others.
- How SCARF will assist you to more easily recognise and modify challenging behaviours such as:
- Passive aggressive
- The workplace bully
- Unsatisfactory performance
- Understanding how the five domains of human social experience involved in the SCARF model (status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness) will assist you to:
- Design interactions to minimise threats
- Activate a reward response that enables you to motivate others more effectively by tapping into internal rewards rather than external rewards such as money
Presented by Ross McSwan, Barrister, Inns of Court, Sunshine Coast
3.25pm to 3.40pm Afternoon Tea
3.40pm to 4.20pm: Bullying and Harassment: Maintaining a Safe School
- What is bullying and does the definition vary under different statutes?
- What is harassment and does the definition vary under different statutes?
- What can happen if a person believes they are bullied or harassed?
- How far can an aggrieved person’s claim go before there is a resolution?
- What consequences might there be if a person is bullied or harassed?
Presented by Dianne Hollyoak, Director, Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors
4.20pm to 4.30pm Final Q&A and Closing Comments by the Chair
Venue
Mercure Brisbane
Level 2, 85-87 North Quay
Brisbane 4000
QLD
Australia
Parking Information
Parking is not included in you registration. Here are some options below. Secure Parking at Mercure Hotel offers a discounted daily rate from $36 by validating tickets at Mercure Reception prior to departure. Click here to view rates .
Directions
Nearby Public Transport:Train Stations - Roma Street StationBus Interchange - George Square Bus Station