About the Standard
This Standard focuses on ensuring that providers have complaints processes that are child-focused, culturally safe and accessible to everyone.
Providers must have policies, procedures and practices to:
- support children to raise complaints
- take complaints and concerns seriously
- respond promptly and thoroughly
- identify and respond to suspected of child abuse
- co-operate with law enforcement and relevant authorities
- meet reporting, privacy and employment law obligations.
Are you a registered school?
CRICOS schools and SEOs that are also registered schools should follow the child safe advice for schools. They must ensure their CRICOS and SEOs operations are incorporated into the school’s compliance with the Standards. They should tailor advice to their international student cohort and community.
Schools - complaints processes regulations
Ensure that processes for complaints and concerns are child focused.
A CRICOS or SEO school complying with this Standard:
- ensures international students, staff, volunteers and families know who to talk to if they are worried or feeling unsafe
- has an open culture that supports safe disclosure of harm to international students
- provides child safety information to international students and their families that is:
- accessible
- age-appropriate
- culturally appropriate and sensitive
- mindful of their diverse characteristics
- easily understood in plain language
- trains the international student coordinator, staff and volunteers in its complaints policy and procedures
- promotes the complaints processes to international students and their families through its:
- student handbook
- website
- newsletters.
Are you a non-school student exchange organisation?
Non-school student exchange organisations (SEOs) should follow the advice provided on this page and ensure that student care and oversight of inbound and outbound exchange programs match.
How to comply
A non-school SEO must have a complaints policy that:
- prioritises exchange students and their safety needs
- is child focused, accessible and easily understood
- describes how it will act to protect children throughout an investigation
- clearly outlines complaints roles and responsibilities
- details how staff and volunteers should respond when they:
- receive a complaint
- become aware of a child safety concern
- breach the Child Safety Code of Conduct
- need to escalate externally as required by law
- provides information about its complaints handling process including:
- how to make a complaint
- what help will be provided to the complainant
- what to expect
- response times
- any relevant progress, outcome or resolution
- covers all staff and volunteers' obligations related to:
- recordkeeping
- information sharing
- cooperating with relevant authorities
- reporting.
Examples of compliance
A non-school SEO complying with this Standard may:
- develop a complaints policy that is culturally safe, child focused and easily accessible to all exchange students
- publish its complaint handling processes in
- plain and easy to understand English
- translated resources
- respectful language
- provide regular updates to all staff and volunteers on its complaints policies and procedures
- set up communication, referral and support mechanisms for exchange students and their families
- clearly state in its complaints policy that exchange students can:
- contact the VRQA for any SEO conduct concerns
- exercise their rights to other legal remedies throughout an investigation.
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