The current practice around confidentiality and Mandatory Notifications in schools has to change. At the moment when a teacher suspects abuse and a notification is made, that information is not able to be passed onto the child’s teacher for the following year due to issues around confidentiality. This needs changing! Academic information is passed on together with learning needs, preferred learning styles, friendship circles and social and emotional needs yet something as important as suspected abuse isn’t?? Where’s the sense in that?
There are very valid reasons why information regarding Mandatory Notifications needs to be shared among teaching staff. Firstly, if a notification has been made on a student and that information is shared with staff, all staff can then keep a close eye on that student. However, more importantly where siblings are concerned, if a notification has been made on an older sibling in another year level, sharing this information gives staff the opportunity to keep an eye out on younger siblings and warning signs.
