Managing inappropriate and hostile conduct procedure

Audience

All state schools, Director-General (or delegate)

Purpose

This procedure outlines options for managing inappropriate or hostile conduct by parents or community members. Principals and the Director-General (or delegate) may take action when such conduct impacts the safety of persons at the school or engaged in school activities, the school's property, or the good management of the school, in or out of school hours.

This procedure outlines the responsibilities and processes of giving directions or orders that control a person's conduct or movement at, or entry to, school premises.

Overview

Directions and orders to manage and prevent inappropriate or hostile conduct are provided in Chapter 12, Parts 4, 5, 7 and 8 of the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 (the Act).

The principal or Director-General (or delegate) can give different types of oral and/or written directions and seek orders, depending on the circumstances and type of conduct being exhibited. These directions or orders apply for different durations and either regulate a person's conduct or movement, or prohibit entry to school premises. Before giving a direction or seeking an order, the principal or Director-General (or delegate) must consider various factors and be reasonably satisfied it is necessary and compatible with human rights.

A direction or order should be exercised as a last resort if reasonably satisfied it is necessary to ensure the safety or wellbeing of persons at the premises or to safeguard the good order and management of the school and the premises. The Guide for Queensland state schools: Promoting respectful conduct by parents and visitors (DoE employees only) outlines other approaches to support safe and respectful schools and for managing difficult or unsafe situations.

Police should be contacted immediately if a person's conduct poses a significant risk of harm, such as a threat of physical violence, with a request for the police to remove the person from the school in accordance with police powers.

This procedure does not apply to:

• student conduct, which is addressed in the Student discipline procedure
• staff conduct, which is addressed in the Code of Conduct for the Queensland Public Service and Department's Standard of Practice or via referral to Integrity and Employee Relations (DoE employees only)
• occupational violence hazards and risks in the workplace, which are addressed in the Occupational violence prevention procedure
• unreasonable conduct by a complainant during a customer complaints management process, which is addressed through the Managing unreasonable complainant conduct procedure

Responsibilities

School staff

• take action to protect their own safety and the safety of others at the school premises and do not put themselves or others in a potentially harmful situation
• immediately report to the principal any conduct or behaviour that may be considered a risk to safety or wellbeing, damage to property or compromise the good order and management of the school.

Principal

• promote the conduct expected of parents and visitors while at the school premises, during school activities and when interacting with others in the school community
• where the school has a Parent and community code of conduct, ensure a copy is publicly available, and it is reviewed and updated periodically
• give a direction under s337, s339 or s340 where satisfied a relevant ground exists
• Contact the Police in a highly critical situation (in the event of a wilful disturbance under s333 of the Act)
• make decisions about giving a direction compatible with the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld)
• chose a course of action that does not put themselves or others at the school premises in a potentially harmful situation
• refers the matter to the Regional Director (as the Director-General delegate) if:
  • it would not be appropriate for the principal to give the direction (e.g., if the principal is the target of the conduct or there is a perception of bias); or
  • the required direction or order cannot be given by the principal (i.e., they do not have authority under the Act)
• maintain records of directions or orders given in OneSchool, including updating records upon receiving a notification of a review decision
• monitor, record and manage non-compliance with directions or orders.
• provide support to staff or students who have witnessed or been impacted by inappropriate or hostile conduct.

Regional Director (delegate of Director-General's powers under s340A and s341)

• consider requests for directions (under s340A and s341) or seeking orders (under s352 and s353) to the Director-General (or relevant delegate)
• give a direction under s340A or s341 where satisfied a relevant ground exists
• ensure decision-making is compatible with the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld)
• maintain OneSchool records for directions given or reviewed
• conduct an internal review (upon appeal submission) and make a decision to confirm, or amend, or substitute the original decision, within the Act timelines.

Director-General (or delegate)

• gives a direction under s340A or s341 where satisfied a relevant ground exists
•  ensure decision-making is compatible with the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld)
• consider requests to make an application under s352 and s353 to seek orders from Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) if the person poses an unacceptable risk to the safety or wellbeing of members of the school community
• conduct an internal review (upon appeal submission) and make a decision to confirm, or amend, or substitute the original decision, within the Act timelines
• maintain records of directions given or reviewed or of orders sought from QCAT.

Process

Process flow for managing inappropriate and hostile conduct

The following process can be read in conjunction with Quick guide: Managing inappropriate or hostile conduct which provides details, timeframes and context of directions and orders applicable under this procedure. For a graphic depiction of the process, refer to Flowchart for Managing inappropriate and hostile conduct.

Access risk and identity the person

Access the level of risk

If a person's conduct creates an immediate unacceptable risk of harm to a person or school property, the principal takes immediate steps to:

• make all staff and students are safe and minimise the risk of damage to property
• contact the police (if required)
• lockdown if the situation is highly critical (refer to the Disaster and emergency management procedure)

Identify the person

• The principal must identify who has engaged in the conduct.
• If the conduct involves an exempt person, the direction or orders within this procedure do not apply, except orders under sections 352–353 as these can be sought against all persons other than students.
• If the principal proposes to give a direction (under s337 or s339), they may require the person to state their name and residential address. The principal must warn the person that it is an offence to fail or to state a false name or address, unless the person has a reasonable excuse.
• If the principal reasonably suspects false information has been provided, the principal may require the person to provide evidence of the correctness of their name and address (s336 of the Act).
• For directions or orders (other than directions under s337 and s339), if the person is a child (who is not a student of the school), the principal or Director-General (or delegate) must make every effort to ascertain the parent's/carer's name and address and give the child's parent/carer notice of the direction, as soon as reasonably practicable, unless the parent/carer cannot be located after reasonable inquiry.
• If the person cannot be identified, then only a s339 direction can be given.

2. Consider conduct, grounds and options for a response

Consider the conduct

The principal or Director-General (or delegate) considers the person's conduct in relation to the incident and/or any patterns of behaviour leading to the incident, which could include:

• previous incidents, warnings or directions about the person's conduct
• online activities, threatening or nuisance phone calls, emails, social media commentary or posts
• impacts of the incident(s) on staff, students or other witnesses (use the witness template, if required).

Consider the situation and grounds

The following table supports the decision-making process when considering inappropriate or hostile conduct.

Table 1: considerations and grounds for a direction or order

*Calendar days, NOT school days

When making their decision, the principal or Director-General (or delegate) should note:

• It is not required that a s337 or s339 direction be given before a s340 or s341 direction if the person's conduct meets the ground provided in legislation, a s340 or s341 direction may be considered if proportionate to the conduct. The decision-maker will need to consider all other less restrictive directions in their human rights assessment.
• Generally, only one direction or order can be given for a particular incident (for example, a s340 and a s341 direction cannot be given for the same incident).

Considerations for grounds of giving a direction or order

Before deciding a direction or seeking an order, the principal or Director-General (or delegate) must be satisfied that one or more grounds for the relevant direction or order exists.

The principal or Director-General (or delegate) in deciding whether a direction or order (if any) is an appropriate response in the circumstances, gives consideration to:

• the seriousness of the person's conduct, with the more restrictive directions or orders being reserved for conduct that creates a significant risk or reflects a pattern of behaviour
• proportionality, with directions or orders only imposing restrictions to the extent necessary to enable the conduct or situation to be managed effectively and to limit impacts on the person's human rights
• the likely effectiveness of a particular direction to address the person's conduct, for example, will a direction regulating their conduct or movement be enough, or is prohibiting entry to the school necessary?
• the need to act impartially and dispassionately
• human rights implications of the proposed decision and whether the decision is compatible or incompatible with human rights (refer to Human Rights guide for more information). Consider these questions:
  • Are any human rights engaged or impacted by the decision to give a direction or order?
  • If so, will the decision limit those human rights?
  • If so, is the limitation lawful, justified and reasonable in the circumstances?

Where there are no grounds to support giving a direction or seeking an order

The principal may decide to give a warning letter (using the relevant template), or broadly promote respectful conduct within the school community e.g. through activities outlined in the Guide for Queensland state schools: Promoting respectful conduct by parents and visitors (DoE employees only).

3. Give the direction or seek an order

For all options, the principal and Director-General (or delegate):

• collects and considers all materials and evidence, including witness statements (refer to template), documented events witnessed and what ground/s for a direction exist in light of the circumstances
• decides if it would be appropriate to give the direction or to seek an order.

If the school principal is absent from the premises a deputy principal or other staff member (nominated by the principal or principal’s supervisor) can give a direction (as per s8 EGPR).

Principal gives a direction or makes a request to the Director-General (or delegate)

Oral direction – s339

• give the direction verbally, using the script
• complete a Record of giving form for the direction and, along with any other relevant documentation such as witness statements, save in OneSchool.

Written direction – s337 or s340

• decide on the duration, noting that the duration of all written directions is calculated using calendar days (includes school days, weekends, holidays and public holidays)
• use the template to prepare the direction
• prepare copies of all materials relied upon to make the decision, including relevant sections of legislation and this procedure, witness statements and any other documents listed in the relevant template
• give the direction and copies of the materials (materials must be redacted copies) using one of the following methods:
  • post to the person's home address as recorded on school records. Use registered post where possible, as it provides evidence the physical documents have been received and the date this occurred.
  • hand it to the person
  • engage the police service or a process server to give the direction to the person
• complete and save records by:
  • completing a Record of giving form for directions posted or handed to the person
  • If the police or a process server delivered the form; keeping a completed affidavit of service concerning the giving of the direction (instead of a Record of giving a direction form)

Principal's request to Director-General (or delegate ) – s340A, s341, s352 or s353

• develop request using the relevant template briefing notes
• nominate a duration for the direction for section 340–341 directions (i.e. s340/340A is up to 60 calendar days and s341 is not less than 60 calendar days up to 1 year noting that any duration up until but not exceeding the full time can be applied)
• provide unredacted witness statements to support decision-making
• progress briefing request (to the Regional Director in the first instance) with supporting materials
• if a decision is made to give a direction or seek an order,  keep a record in OneSchool and ensure all information is handled in accordance with the Information privacy breach and privacy complaints procedure.

Director-General (or delegate) gives direction or seeks an order to QCAT

Written direction — s340/340A or 341

• consider the material provided by the principal.
• seeks further information from the principal (or Regional Director) to inform the decision (if necessary)
• if the request to give a direction is not supported, the principal must be advised and discussions on other options to manage the situation are to occur.
• decide on the duration of the direction (i.e. s340/340A is up to 60 calendar days and s341 is not less than 60 calendar days up to 1 year noting that any duration up until but not exceeding the full time can be applied)
• use the template to prepare the direction
• prepare copies of all materials relied upon to make the decision, including relevant sections of legislation and this procedure, witness statements and any other documents listed in the relevant template
• give the direction and copies of the materials (materials must be redacted copies) using one of the following methods:
  • post to the person's home address as recorded on school records. Use registered post where possible, as it provides evidence the physical documents have been received and the date this occurred.
  • hand it to the person
  • engage the police service or a process server to give the direction to the person
• complete and save records by:
  • completing a Record of giving form for directions posted or handed to the person, or
  • if the police or a process server delivered the form; keeping a completed affidavit of service concerning the giving of the direction (instead of a Record of giving a direction form)
• provides notification of the direction to the principal (and Regional Director), and save a copy on the Department's record management system for monitoring of compliance with the direction or order.

Application for order — s352 or s353

• consider the material provided by the principal (and Regional Director)
• seek further information from the principal (or Regional Director) to inform the decision (if necessary)
• complete the QCAT form and file the application with QCAT
• if QCAT makes an order, arrange service of documents as per steps above
• if QCAT rejects the order, communicate the decision and reasons to the principal and Regional Director
• arrange for a copy of all completed and signed documents to be saved (in the Department's record management system)
• notify the principal and Regional Director for monitoring of compliance with the direction or order.

4. Review and appeal options

Review of an original decision

If a person is dissatisfied with the decision to give them a direction, they may request a review of the original decision.

The person must request a review in writing to the Director-General (or delegate) within the legislated timeframe (see Table 2 below). The written submission must detail the grounds on which the person wants the direction to be reviewed and include their residential address.

Table 2: Requests to review directions

* Under section 392 a person may apply to QCAT to appeal the outcome of a decision made by the Director-General.

A review must be conducted by an independent person who is in a position (in the Department) equal to, or higher than, the original decision maker, unless the Director-General made the original decision.

On receiving an application for review of a direction, the Director-General (or delegate) who will review the original decision:

• checks that the person has provided the required information as outlined in the direction letter, and requests any additional information as needed
• notes any timeframes within which a review decision must be made and communicated (refer to Table 3 above). 
• confirms that as the decision-maker they are a person who is independent (from the original decision) and authorised (under the Act or delegations) to make the review decision
• reviews the material that led to the original decision to give the direction and any other relevant material
• considers the human rights implications of the proposed review decision and concludes if the review decision impacts human rights
• decides on either a review decision under sections 390-392 to confirm, vary or amend the original decision, or to substitute another decision for the original decision for a s340 direction, or
• decides on a review decision under s338 to confirm, vary or cancel a s337 direction
• communicates the decision in writing to the person who made the request as soon as practicable after the decision is made and includes details of how they may apply for an external review of the decision
• provides advice to the Regional Director of the review decision for noting
• provides advice to the principal of the review decision and requests the principal to record the outcome of the review in OneSchool and monitor compliance with the direction if applicable
• stores a copy of the application for review and review decision -in the Department's record management system.

5. Monitor and record compliance

Under sections 337, 339, 340 and 341 of the Act, persons must comply with a direction unless the person has a reasonable excuse.

• If a person is not complying with a direction or order, the principal must consider the nature and severity of the non-compliance and take appropriate action that may include:
  • calling the police if the person's conduct is creating an immediate unacceptable risk of harm to people or property, or if the conduct constitutes a breach of the direction or order and the principal is not aware of the person having a reasonable excuse for not complying with the direction.
  • giving a further direction, or seeking an order, to address the non-compliance and better manage the person's conduct (refer to Quick guide: Managing inappropriate or hostile conduct).
  • re-explaining the requirements of the direction to the person and warning them of the consequences of ongoing non-compliance (i.e., imposing a more restrictive direction).
• The principal must document all incidents of non-compliance with the direction or order, regardless of whether any action is taken in respect of that non-compliance.

The principal records any observations or communications relevant to their monitoring activities in OneSchool.

6. Expiry of a direction or order

Once a direction or order expires/concludes, the person subject to the direction or order no longer has restrictions on their conduct, movement or presence on school premises.

Depending on the circumstances of the person's conduct and duration of the order, the principal may consider if it is appropriate to prepare for the person’s return to the school premises once the direction has expired (refer to Information Sheet - Preparing for a hostile person's direction expiring (DoE employees only)).

If the person's conduct becomes inappropriate or unacceptable again, the principal, Director-General (or delegate) may give a new direction or seek a new order, in accordance with this procedure.

Support staff and student safety and wellbeing

Where a staff member of the department has been a witness to, or the subject of, inappropriate or hostile conduct impacting their safety or wellbeing, the principal should encourage them to make use of the department's Employee Assistance Program. Where a student's safety or wellbeing has been affected, the principal should support them.

If inappropriate conduct has included cyber abuse or publication of materials, refer to the Online incident management guidelines for school leaders (DoE employees only) or contact the Cybersafety and Reputation Management team at Cybersafety.ReputationManagement@qed.qld.gov.au.

If increased security is required at the school premises, refer to School security procedure or contact the Emergency and School Security Unit, Infrastructure Services Branch.

If a staff member has been threatened, harmed or injured, refer to the Occupational violence prevention procedure and the Health, safety and wellbeing incident management procedure for incident reporting.

If a principal has been a witness to, or the subject of, inappropriate or hostile conduct impacting their safety or wellbeing, the principal should make use of the department's Employee Assistance Program or seek support.

Definitions

Legislation

• Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 Chapter 12, Parts 4-5, 7-8 and Chapter 15
• Education (General Provisions) Regulation 2017
• Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld)
• Judicial Review Act 1991 (Qld)
• Ombudsman Act 2001 (Qld)
• Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 Section 21

Delegations/Authorisations

• Director-General delegations under the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006  

Other resources

• Guide to the Human Rights assessment tool (DoE employees only)
• Human Rights impact assessment tool (DoE employees only)
• Information sheet - Considering human rights when managing inappropriate and hostile conduct (DoE employees only)
• Information sheet - Preparing for a person's direction or order expiring (DoE employees only)
• Section 340A - Briefing note template (up to 60 days) (DoE employees only)
• Section 341 - Briefing note to Director-General (or delegate) - Final decision (up to 1 year) (DoE employees only)
• Sections 340 - 340A and Section 341 - Principal letter to Regional Director requesting a direction (DoE employees only)
• Warning letter template (DoE employees only)
• Warning letter template - Social media (DoE employees only)
• Witness statement template (DoE employees only)
• Customer complaints management policy and procedure
• Customer complaints management – Internal review procedure
• Guide for Queensland state schools: Promoting respectful conduct by parents and visitors(DoE employees only)  
• Health, safety and wellbeing incident management procedure
• Information privacy breach and privacy complaints procedure
• Managing unreasonable complainant conduct procedure  
• Occupational violence prevention procedure 
• Parent and community code of conduct 
• Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal – Prohibition of entry and exclusion – schools and institutions
• School security procedure
• Supporting students' mental health and wellbeing procedure
• CCTV use in schools procedure

Superseded versions

Previous seven years shown. Minor version updates not included.

3.0 Hostile People on School Premises, Wilful Disturbance and Trespass