Providing training for children and young people brings additional responsibilities for employees of ACCM College.
All employees of ACCM College are responsible for promoting the safety and well-being of children and young people by:
• Adhering to the ACCM College Child Protection Policy at all times and taking all reasonable steps to ensure the safety and protection of children and young people
• Treating everyone with respect and honesty (this includes staff, clients, volunteers, students, children, young people, school advisers, guardians, carers and parents)
• Remembering to be a positive role model to children and young people in all your conduct with them
• Setting clear boundaries about appropriate behaviour between yourself and the children and young people in your organisation – boundaries help everyone to carry out their roles well
• Listening and responding appropriately to the views and concerns of children and young people
• Ensuring another adult is always present or in sight when conducting face to face one-to-one coaching, instruction or other activities
• Reporting suspected child abuse and neglect in accordance with College Reporting Rules as soon as practicable
• Responding quickly, fairly and transparently to any serious complaints made by a child, young person or their parent/guardian
• Encouraging children and young people to ‘have a say’ on issues that are important to them
• Providing feedback to both children and parents or guardians
Employees of ACCM College, by accepting their employment contract, agree that they will not:
• Engage in physical contact with students or clients, other than customary greetings e.g. shaking of hands
• Develop any ‘special’ relationships with children and young people that could be seen as favouritism such as the offering of gifts or special treatment
• Ask unnecessarily personal questions of students or engage or allow personal discussion, regardless of who initiates the discussion
• Discriminate against any child or young person because of age, gender, cultural background, religion, vulnerability or sexuality
• Offer personal gifts or special treatment
• Ignore efforts by a young person to reach out for help related to a child protection matter
• Use language that is offensive or has a sexual connotation or be regarded as demeaning or harassing
• Make contact with students for any reason other than in the normal course of their job role, and limit after hours contact or use of personal phones for that contact only with supervisor knowledge of the reasons for it and with approval.
Failure to comply with this Code of Conduct to Ensure a Child Safe Organisation will be treated as a staff disciplinary action.