Voice Care for Teachers

Policy

This policy outlines the requirements in schools for voice care for teachers.

Summary

• The Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act 2004 (Vic) requires the department to provide or maintain, systems of work and a working environment that is, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risk to health – including where common job tasks can create a potential health risk.
• The principal and/or their delegate, in consultation with Health and Safety Representatives (HSR) and employees, must identify, assess, implement controls and monitor the vocal health of teachers in their school, because teaching can create demands on vocal health.
• Under the OHS Act 2004, employees while at work must take reasonable care for their own health and safety and the safety of others who may be affected by their actions or omissions.
• Central and regional offices provide a range of supports and services to assist principals and employees to be safe and well, including access to the OHS Advisory Service and local regional officers who can provide free advice about how to manage teacher vocal health risks.
• The Voice Care for Teachers Procedure (in the Procedure tab) must be followed, and sets out the practical step-by-step instructions for implementing this policy.
• This policy forms part of the department’s OHS Management System, refer to the OHS Management System (OHSMS) Overview or further information.

Details

The principal and/or their delegate, in consultation with the HSR and employees must:

• implement a risk management approach for identifying areas/activities that may pose a risk to teachers’ vocal health by identifying the hazards that may impact on teachers’ vocal health
• conduct a risk assessment to determine the risk (likelihood and consequence of injury or harm) using the Risk Assessment Template (Word) or equivalent template
• develop appropriate risk control strategies and allocate adequate resources to implement them by using the OHS Risk Register (Excel)
• record identified and implemented risk controls to manage areas / activities that may pose a risk to teachers’ vocal health on the OHS Risk Register.

Definitions

Voice care
Often called ‘Vocal Hygiene or Health’, caring for your voice means learning to pay attention to the signals that your voice gives you so that you take the necessary steps to avoid getting injured in the first place. It also requires that you think ahead, learning to change certain behaviours which might lead to an injured voice e.g. improving how the larynx (voice box) works through voice therapy.

Related policies

• OHS Management System (OHSMS) Overview
• OHS Risk Management

Relevant legislation

• Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic)
• Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (Vic)

Voice Care for Teachers Procedure

The Voice Care for Teachers Procedure must be followed, and sets out the practical step-by-step instructions for implementing this policy.

It contains the following chapters:

1. Introduction
2. Identify area/activities that may pose a risk to teachers' health
3. Implement controls
4. Legislation, codes of practice, standards and guidance

1 Introduction

School teachers are one of the largest groups of professional voice users world-wide. Teachers’ voices are their primary tool of trade, their main mode of communication in the classroom and one of their most powerful assets.

Teaching, however, places many demands on vocal health:

• talking extensively
• talking loudly
• speaking over background noise, and
• speaking and projecting a voice over large distances in the playground or on the sports field

are just some of the vocal pressures teachers confront every day. Because of these vocal demands, teachers are at increased risk for developing vocal health problems. Fortunately, it is not difficult for most to avoid vocal health problems and for teachers to have an effective voice for their entire teaching career and beyond.

2 Identify areas/activities that may pose a risk to teachers’ vocal health

The principal and/or their delegate in consultation with the Health and Safety Representatives (HSR) and employees, must implement a risk management approach for identifying areas/activities that may pose a risk to teachers’ vocal health by identifying the hazards that may impact on teachers’ vocal health.

2.1 Environmental factors

Vocal health of teachers can be impacted on by a range of environmental factors such as:

• open plan classrooms
• areas with poor insulation from external noise (e.g. thin walls or partitions, poor fitting doors or windows)
• environments with floor, wall or ceiling surfaces which cause sound reverberation (i.e. hard surfaces such as lino, ceramic or vinyl tiles, concrete, timber)
• environments with high levels of background noise (internal or external)
• environments requiring teachers to talk or project their voice over large distances e.g. swimming pools, outdoor settings

The principal and/or their delegate must ensure that the hazards that may impact on teachers’ vocal health are recorded in the ‘Hazard type’ column of OHS Risk Register (Excel).

3 Risk assess

The principal and/or their delegate in consultation with the HSR and employees must then:

• conduct a risk assessment to determine the risk (likelihood and consequence of injury or harm) using the Risk Assessment Template (Word) or equivalent template
• develop appropriate risk control strategies and allocate adequate resources to implement them by using the OHS Risk Register (Excel)

Further guidance can be obtained from the OHS Risk Management Policy.

3.1 Risk control strategies

Examples of risk control strategies are:

• ensuring that professional development and induction programs encompass voice care issues
• encouraging teachers to report issues and seek help before their voice problems get worse
• implementing classroom acoustic management strategies to reduce overall noise levels by replacing noisy floor surfaces with carpets or improving sound insulation to lower noise levels from external sources
• developing classroom management strategies that reduce the need for teachers to continuously raise their voices or the amount of time that they need to speak
• providing voice amplifiers for teachers with vocal injuries

Examples of risk control strategies for teachers are:

• arranging the classroom so that students who are likely to be noisy or need extra attention are at the front
• talking to groups or classes when the students are quiet
• use methods of behaviour management that do not involve yelling or loud talking
• use non-verbal means to gain attention and convey some of your message — use hand and arm gestures or sound signals such as clapping or a bell / whistle / children’s party clickers
• turn down background noise such as radios, television, speaker systems, or move away from the source of noise when talking
• planning the day so that you build in vocal rest periods
• drinking water frequently throughout the day

3.2 Additional support strategies

The Department has developed a comprehensive Voice Care Program to assist teachers to look after their voices and to prevent the development of voice problems which may limit their effectiveness as teachers.

Although the program materials are directed mainly at individual teachers, the program's success will be highly dependent on the extent to which the school management team works towards creating a whole school environment that is conducive to healthy voice use.

The degree of support and encouragement that is provided to teachers by the management team will be an important contributor to the success of the Voice Care Program.

The Voice Care Guidelines (Word) is another resource to assist in addressing the issues associated with vocal health and provide measures to reduce vocal problems.

4 Implement controls

The principal and/or their delegate, in consultation with the HSR and employees must record identified and implemented risk controls, for example [providing the Voice Care Guidelines to all teachers and including this as part of induction] to manage areas/activities that may pose a risk to teachers’ vocal health on the OHS Risk Register (Excel).

5 Legislation, codes of practice, standards and guidance

• Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic)
• Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (Vic)
• Department of Education and Training Voice Care Guidelines (Word)
• Department of Education and Training Voice Care Program (Word)
• Voice Care Australia

Resources

Programs and guides

• Voice Care Program (Word) — developed by the Department to assist teachers to look after their voices and to prevent the development of voice problems which may limit their effectiveness as teachers.
• Voice Care Guidelines (Word) — another resource to assist in addressing the issues associated with vocal health and provide measures to reduce vocal problems.

Display material

• Voice Care for Teachers Poster (Word) — contains strategies for maintaining voice qualities and tips on what to avoid.

Templates relevant to this policy and procedure

• OHS Risk Register (Excel) — to develop appropriate risk control strategies and allocate adequate resources to implement them.
• Risk Assessment Template (Word) — schools can use this to conduct a risk assessment to determine the risk (likelihood and consequence of injury or harm).

Useful websites

• Voice Care Australia — a body that specialises in the human voice — focusing on the prevention of voice problems by providing voice care workshops which help participants reach their full potential while maintaining healthy vocal practices.