100 education workers have had police clearances lapse — and dozens are still working with children under supervision

DOZENS of education staff whose police clearances have lapsed were reassigned or allowed to work with children under supervision, rather than being sent home as per Education Department policy.

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DOZENS of education staff whose police clearances have lapsed were reassigned or allowed to work with children under supervision, rather than being sent home as per Education Department policy.

The department today updated its response to The Advertiser’s revelations that only three of 101 staff who clearances lapsed in the past year were sent home.

The staff are supposed to be banned from working as well as volunteering with children until police have declared it is safe for them to do so, based on whether they have had criminal convictions since their previous clearance.

But the department has not enforced its own policy, banning only three of the 101 staff when their child-protection police clearances lapsed. The onus is on staff to seek a renewal of their clearance and tell the department when it has expired.

But instead of being sent home on paid or unpaid leave when their clearances lapse, a Freedom of Information investigation has revealed that about 100 staff have continued to work in department workplaces.

The Education Department’s initial response suggested there were teachers among the 98 people who stayed at work.

“Over a 12-month period, 101 active employees out of a total staff of around 30,000 had their Relevant History Screening lapse prior to the conclusion of their contracts. Teaching staff are not permitted to work without a clearance,” the first statement said.

But a spokesperson later issued a statement on Monday morning saying no teachers, only education staff, were involved.

“All were managed within the legislative requirements. This meant either they did not work directly with children, they were sent home or they worked under direct supervision,” the statement said.

“Each staff member was managed according to their work situation, in accordance with the law.”

In the department’s first statement, it said three staff were sent home, 13 were assigned other duties such as administrative work, 44 continued to work under supervision, and 41 “were not DECD employees and as such were not eligible for consideration for exemption to continue work under alternative/ supervised duties”.

When the go-home policy began in 2015, staff were warned: “The purpose of the policy is to make sure that, except in exceptional circumstances, those who are not known to be safe to work with children are not allowed to do so.”

UniSA child-protection expert Dr Elspeth McInnes said the revelations showed that urgent action needed to be taken on the “wholesale reform” recommended by the Nyland royal commission in August.

This week, the State Government will make its official response to Nyland, tightening existing controls.

“Systems to reduce the number of lapsed clearances need to be initiated; for example, automated reminders ahead of time and some kind of penalty for failing to act,’’ Dr McInnes said.

“Screening systems are only ever as good as their implementation. New legislation (now being debated in Parliament) regulating screening is urgent.’’

Regular child-protection clearances can take more than 40 days and are required to ensure department staff files are up-to-date with recent police investigations or convictions.

The failure of the policy can only be made public because Family First MLC Robert Brokenshire applied for a report on how the policy was working.

“The fact is South Australia has encountered nothing but problems under this Government when it comes to the lack of child protection,’’ he said.

“They created a super department to look after both child protection and education so you would think that the least the Government could have done was assure that teacher accreditation is always up-to-date — therefore no need to waste money and resources by having teachers offline while waiting for new accreditation.

“We’ve seen millions of dollars spent on a royal commission and other inquiries into child protection, yet basic administration needs and costs like this have been ignored — which can only be described as slack governance.

“It is time that the community and parents had confidence reinstated by this Government.”

In response to Mr Brokenshire’s application, the Education Department:

WOULD not say how long, on average, staff had remained in contact with children while not being cleared as safe.

REVEALED that in addition to the 101 staff who were working when their current checks lapsed, another 89 were in the same position but were on leave when the clearance expired.

REVEALED that 13 of the 101 staff were given different duties until cleared, and 44 were considered a sufficient risk that they were supervised.

COULD not say why the go-home policy was not being enforced.

Education Department director of people and culture Michael Papps said: “The Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Bill currently before Parliament proposes significant changes to screening processes and the department will review its policies in response to legislative changes.

“Relevant history screening is important and the department works very hard to ensure all employees renew their three-year clearance before it expires.’’

Screening of adults working with children began in SA as a result of the 2003 Layton review of the child-protection system.

The Nyland royal commission emphasised the importance of screening, stating in its final report in August: “Screening not only eliminates inappropriate individuals but also acts as a deterrent to those who might otherwise try to obtain child-related employment.”