What is the School Principal’s biggest fear?

Resources, reputation, culture, staff well-being. What is the true cost of student incidents?

Last week, I was in a room full of school principals.

It was nerve wracking even though I haven't been in the principal’s office for many decades. 

Law in schools ran a legal literacy workshop for a school principals network to explore how schools have experienced The Anxious Generation (A must read by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt) problem and the resulting legal implications of high media consumption in student behaviour. 

Here’s what went down in that workshop:

The session started with identifying examples of the often subtle and low threshold nature of criminal behaviours occurring in schools. It is the agreed source of migraines for behaviour management leaders and principals!

We then evaluated the direct cost of student incidents on schools (it’s not just financial) and the missing link in a school’s approach, a preventative rather than the reactive knee-jerk response.

Three key Australian cases on the scope of a school’s duty of care and how not responding to bullying could breach that duty of care:

Together we looked at critical comments made by Courts on a school’s duty of care and where a breach of that duty can occur outside of the physical school space and outside of school hours. We ventured into whether that scope extended to the virtual world and student’s use of devices and social media.

Some additional lessons from these cases:

• If you have a policy you must go through with it

• If bullying exists, steps must be taken to eliminate it so that bullying ceases. 

• Ensuring follow through with disciplinary actions the policy allows.

• Deterrence is seen as an important response in bullying cases.

• Investigate thoroughly, it must lead to either a reduction or elimination of the risk of bullying.
  

Clearly a lot to unpack.

Drop me a line if you would like to explore this further or just to debrief!