The protective practices for staff in their interactions with children and young people guidelines (PDF 3 MB) are for staff and volunteers. Following these guidelines is mandatory.

The guidelines outline our responsibilities and duty of care. They are how we create positive, caring and respectful relationships with children and young people.

How the guidelines can help staff and volunteers

The guidelines aim to help you understand:

• your duty of care
• appropriate boundaries in your professional role
• your responsibility to safeguard children and young people’s emotional and physical wellbeing.

The guidelines cover:

• professional boundaries and examples of violations
• grooming behaviour
• appropriate physical contact
• duty of care
• staff obligations to report inappropriate behaviour
• using social networking sites
• managing privacy expectations
• working with children and young people with disabilities.

A practical look at the guidelines – online training

Staff and volunteers can access protective practices training on Plink. You can create a Plink account if you don't already have one.

The training is optional.

It’s available to all education staff and volunteers who work with children and young people. This includes government and non-government schools and preschools.

School principals and preschool directors can use the training to lead discussions with staff and volunteers. The training has specific scenarios – they’re a good way to talk about how to apply the guidelines.

Information for families

Families can read the protective practices information for parents and carers.