Suitability for child connected work
Clause10.2(d)(ii) of Ministerial Order requires schools and school boarding premises to collect and record references that address the person’s suitability for working with children.
To satisfy this requirement, once the selection decision is made, and before any offer of employment is made, the suitability for child connected work check must be undertaken for the preferred candidate, whether that candidate is internal or external to the school or the department. This check is to be conducted prior to other pre-employment and commencement checks. This must occur before any employment, transfer or promotion action is taken.
The principal (or nominee) is required to contact the preferred applicant’s current or immediate past employer as part of the pre-approval process. Where the current or immediate past employer is a school, the principal of that school must be contacted to ensure that if any child safety concerns have previously been raised the principal is able to access an employee’s file to check this. If the current or immediate past employer is not a school, the employer should be contacted and requested to provide the name of a person who can be contacted to answer the department’s child safety screening questions (where the work involved children).
Where the person does/did not work with children in their current or immediate past employment, the principal or delegate must make reasonable efforts to determine if there are any past employers that could reasonably attest to the persons suitability for child connected work. If no such employer exists or if the person has never worked with children this should be noted on the recruitment records.
The following questions must be asked at a minimum and responses recorded in writing and kept securely. A template form can be found here: Recruitment in Schools: Resources | VIC.GOV.AU | Policy and Advisory
- Question 1: Have you directly observed [applicant’s name] work with children?
Question 2: During the period that [applicant’s name] worked in your organisation, were there any concerns raised about [applicant’s name] behaviour or conduct when working with a child or children? If yes, were any allegations substantiated and what steps were taken to deal with these concerns?
Note: such concerns may be in the form of complaints, allegations or disclosures raised in relation to the applicant’s conduct towards children.
Even if allegations were unsubstantiated, it is important that the hiring principal is aware of those in case supervision and monitoring practices are needed to be implemented to discharge the duty of care owed to students (see below for further details).
- Question 3: Do you have any concerns about [applicant’s name] working directly with children?
- Question 4: Has any disciplinary action been taken against the applicant in relation to inappropriate or unprofessional conduct towards a child?
- Question 5: Were there instances where you had concerns that [applicant’s name] did not always behave with integrity in their employment, such as not dealing with others in an ethical manner, not declaring or managing a conflict of interest appropriately or not dealing with sensitive or confidential information in an appropriate way? If yes, what steps were taken to deal with these concerns? Were these concerns satisfactorily resolved?
The Managing Conduct and Unsatisfactory Performance in the Teaching Policy provides guidance on information that can be shared by principals during pre-employment child safety checks. The policy confirms that persons providing references or pre-employment checks must be transparent about any allegations of a child safety nature that have been raised about the employee (even unsubstantiated allegations) to enable the prospective employer to put appropriate child safety supervision measures in place to discharge their duty of care and meet obligations under the Child Safe Standards.
Where the suitability for child-connected work questions elicit information about past or present concerns that were either resolved satisfactorily or that did not result in an employment limitation or termination, it is important to afford natural justice to the applicant when making a final selection decision.
Where the principal forms a preliminary view that applicant is not suitable to work with children as a result of the responses provided during the suitability for child connected work check, the principal should discuss their concerns with the applicant and provide them the opportunity to respond. In the event the principal determines the applicant is not suitable for child connected work, no employment offer should be made.
Where the principal determines the applicant is suitable for child connected work, however there are some reservations arising from the information gained during the suitability for child connected work check (e.g. where allegations were unable to be substantiated), the information provided should be recorded. This information can then be used for the purpose of determining and implementing appropriate child safety risk mitigation strategies once the applicant is appointed to the role, such as ongoing monitoring, coaching, support and supervision.
If the principal requires advice on appropriate child safety risk mitigation strategies to implement in these circumstances, they should contact the Conduct and Integrity Division.
Reviewed 12 January 2026
