Managing compliance

Principals were becoming ‘bogged down’ with the never ending stream of complex legislative directives and emails.

You wouldn’t be far off the mark if you called this the era of risk management and compliance in Australian schools, IEU VicTas member Vince Muscatello writes.

In 2012 under the Empowering Local Schools National Partnership initiative, an application was submitted to explore opportunities and possibilities for the four Catholic primary schools in the Sunraysia district to enhance effectiveness in decision making, resources and staffing in the areas of governance and management.

The Sunraysia Partnership Council was established consisting of principals from the Catholic primary schools, representatives of the Catholic parishes of Sunraysia, representatives from St Joseph’s Secondary College and Fr Michael McKinnon, to look at a number of common issues.

A strategic directions statement was formulated. Through the formation of a partnership, the members sought to engage in shared activities designed to support the growth and development of Catholic education in Sunraysia. The council would focus on professional learning, Catholic identity, promotion of Catholic education and the future provision for Catholic education to name a few.

Over the last five years since its inception the Sunraysia Partnership Council has continued to flourish and evolve in how it supports and enhances Catholic education in Sunraysia.

Why the need for a compliance officer?

Due to the increasing compliance demands placed upon principals, and administration staff, arising from the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) and the response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Abuse, the council undertook a process of identifying and investigating the current needs of principals and subsequent factors impinging their current duties and responsibilities.

Principals bogged down

Principals were becoming ‘bogged down’ with administrative documentation, surveys, questionnaires, compliance checklists and trying to navigate our way through the never ending stream of complex legislative directives and emails. It was taking us away from our core business of learning and teaching. Something needed to change. All the compliance regulations put in place by the relevant governing authorities were noticeably impacting on principal wellbeing. In 2016, the council began the journey of formulating a role description and subsequent documentation for the employment of a risk and compliance officer. We were looking for someone who had a particular skill set.

The risk and compliance officer duties include the completion and maintenance of risk assessments, risk and compliance registers (accidents, risk alerts and near misses) and insurance, the coordination of risk workshops, compliance audits and investigations as required to assist the principals to drive a culture of continuous improvement.

Role centralises work

The role is intended to centralise the executive level risk management and compliance work traditionally done by principals and deputy principals in Catholic schools; and to streamline and conform the common compliance practices and documentation across schools.

The risk and compliance officer is responsible for keeping abreast of a range of compliance requirements and ensuring the schools are well placed to meet them. An integral component of this was ensuring we had chosen someone with excellent communication skills. The position involves regular communication with the Catholic Education Office Ballarat (CEOB), principals and other leaders of our schools (and sometimes school staff), the creation of easily adapted templates, the centralisation of resources and regular audits. The risk and compliance officer audits the schools’ compliance documents and practices and then undertakes the work (as opposed to simply advising principals and deputy principals) to support the schools to meet and exceed requirements.

The focus is on the high level, complex requirements that are common across schools such as policy and procedure creation, WHS updates, child safe and mandatory reporting requirements etc, rather than day to day administrative matters such as record keeping, personnel matters, payroll and so on that are effectively managed by existing administration staff.

The benefit of the role is that principals and deputy principals have more time to focus on the spheres of faith development, wellbeing, pastoral care and management, learning and teaching and community.

As a result of our due diligence in the early stages of planning and preparation we attracted a quality field of applicants. Our successful applicant had an extensive background in educational settings at primary, secondary and tertiary level. She also had a sound understanding of WHS, risk management, policy development, state legislation and strong interpersonal skills, among other things.

Our risk and compliance officer commenced employment with us in January this year. In four months we have already seen a number of improvements in our processes and procedures. A number of our colleague principals as well as CEO Ballarat are watching us with interest to see how this develops. It is our belief that this model can be replicated and shared throughout the diocese. Regardless of size of school, your responsibilities and accountabilities are all the same.

At the end of the day, the establishment of this model will ensure that we as principals can focus on our core business: learning and teaching.

Vince Muscatello is the Principal of St Paul’s Primary School, Mildura.