Schools and the Law – Book Review

Divided into 6 chapters, namely, children’s rights, duties of care/vicarious liability, statutory requirements for child safety, student misconduct and discipline, equal opportunity and information/privacy, this publication aims to be a comprehensive though not exhaustive guide to Australian law pertaining to schools.

Children’s rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the principle in Teoh’s case do not occupy much space. The focus of chapter 1 is on on the historical development of such rights. It is clear that the focus of the publication is to examine liability within the education system.

To this end, the authors discuss the law of negligence, vicarious and direct liability including in cases of bullying leading to psychological harm. The authors note that Queensland continues to apply the common law rather than limiting claims for pure mental harm. (The “normal fortitude” test applies in most other jurisdictions.) Essential responses to bullying (and cyber bullying) complaints are set out to assist in policy development and implementation in schools.

Child safety issues and mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse are addressed in Chapter 3. The text, importantly, makes reference to additional statutory requirements potentially faced by private schools under Trade Practices law.

The publication contains a number of very useful tables setting out statutory requirements across Australian jurisdictions relating to child safety, suspension and exclusion from school, general education and discrimination law.

Given quoted statistics revealing an increasing number of exclusions and suspensions and incidences of bullying in the context of new technologies available to children, this publication will be of considerable importance to those entrusted with the care and education of children. It will help administrators and teachers develop appropriate policies and practices in the education system.

At a direct price of $45 and a recommended retail price of $45, the text is excellent value for anyone with an interest in the field.

Jann Taylor

Footnotes

1. The publishers provide the following detail on Professor Butler:

   “Professor Des Butler is a Professor of Law in the QUT Faculty of Law. He was awarded a PhD in 1996 for his thesis on liability for psychiatric injury and has since written eleven books and numerous articles on areas such a liability for psychiatric injury, media law, contract law and maritime law. Des was also awarded a prestigious Carrick Australian Award for Teaching Excellence in 2006.”

2. The publishers guide to Mr. Mathews includes the following: 
   “Dr Ben Mathews is a Senior Lecturer in the QUT Faculty of Law. In 2002, he completed his PhD on the law of children’s criminal responsibility. Since then he has investigated civil remedies for survivors of child abuse, and other issues regarding child abuse and neglect, particularly mandatory reporting laws.

   Ben is currently working on a 3-year ARC-funded project investigating teacher reporting of child sexual abuse, and is on another team investigating nurse reporting of child abuse and neglect in Queensland.”