[MUSIC] Supervision in the classroom is a very important aspect of the teacher's duty of care. This is where most of our interaction with students occurs. A number of things are important. We need to have very, very clear expectations for behaviour in the classroom, our school rules need to be enforced, and they need to be communicated to students on a regular basis. It's a good idea, for example, to have these rules on the wall in some sort of display. And to continually remind students what's acceptable and what isn't acceptable and why. We also need to ensure that our premises, our classrooms, our halls, our laboratories, and so forth are safe and clean, and clear of all potential hazards. Sometimes this is covered by legislation. Sometimes it isn't. But in any case, we need to ensure potential hazards are removed, or dealt with. As mentioned, teachers have a greater duty of care in that they have to intervene in potentially hazardous situations, unlike the general population. If you see something happening that could be dangerous, you need to do something about it. You need to step in and stop it. But there are some provisos here. For example, two very large students fighting each other or using weapons of some sort might need to be called upon to stop. It might be reasonable to call the police and other teachers for assistance. But it may well be going beyond the duty of care to attempt to break them up. Particularly, if you don't feel equipped to do so. Intervention doesn't have to mean physical intervention. It can include calling for help. There are a few more matters of supervision in the classroom we need to mention. Students will sometimes bring dangerous, or even illegal, or prohibited substances or material into schools. We have a duty of care to intervene here and to confiscate that material, and to keep it safe from students and the rest of staff. This may well mean taking that material to the principal's office. In some cases, if it's illegal, it may involve calling the police. But if in any doubt, you need to intervene to take that material to make sure it's stored safely and to let authorities know, if necessary. In the case of parents' property that students may well have brought to school, it still belongs to the parent, if it's legal. We must take care of it, and we must give it back within a reasonable time. However, we may need to involve people such as our principal, and our school leaders in decisions about whether or not to give material back to students. In terms of disposing potentially dangerous items, we need to be very, very careful about how to do this. Some teachers, for example, have taken dangerous materials or items and put them in rubbish bins where other students have removed them later. The issue of unsupervised classes is a difficult one. There will be times when teachers need to leave the room for a brief period of time. And you cannot watch students for every second of the day. The teacher may need to leave the room for an emergency, for personal reasons. But in doing so, it's a very good idea to let issue very, very clear instructions to the students as to what is required in terms of expectations of behaviour. For example, they're not to leave their desks, they're not to stand or leave the room. It's also a very good suggestion in this sort of circumstance to let the teacher in adjoining classrooms know that you're leaving briefly. But it's a very poor idea, and very poor professional practice to leave the class on a regular basis. In terms of your own classroom and your own responsibilities, being consistently late to class puts students at the potential risk of negligence occurring, a breach of the duty of care, injury or damage. Leaving class early also has its potential risks, as does dismissing students early from school without some prior arrangement. Recess, lunchtimes, when students are on the playground still constitutes school hours and students need to be supervised. It is the responsibility of principals to insure adequate supervision in playgrounds by teachers during these times. Some schools employ other adults to supervise these breaks, but the key point is someone needs to be supervising students at all times. Within the playground, there is no legal ratio in terms of the number of teachers to the number of students. The factors we talked about before, such as age, previous experience and so forth, potential hazards, all come into play here. It is the responsibility of the school leadership, including the principal through vicarious liability, to ensure that adequate supervision procedures are put into place. If you are on the playground and observe something, as we've mentioned before, you need to intervene. If there are potential hazards that you encounter, you have a duty of care to communicate this to the principal. This may well result in certain areas of the playground being declared out of bounds or basically off limits to students because of the potential danger. Where there is playground equipment, for example, for younger students often there are equipment for climbing and slippy dips, and sea saws, and so forth. These need to be very, very carefully supervised, because there is a greater potential risk or hazard associated with these. Therefore, students need to be supervised closely, instructions need to be given to them in terms of appropriate behavior, and so forth. If you see a potentially hazardous situation developing with the use of equipment, you should intervene to stop the students using that equipment. Sports and games, as we've mentioned are particularly hazardous in some instances. If you are asked to take a sporting team, or game, in the school or out of the school, you need to be confident you have the skills necessary to supervise the students. In some cases, teachers are given very, very large groups of students to supervise. If you feel you can't do this adequately, you have a duty of care to inform the principal of this fear, and the need for greater supervision. If you are asked to take a sport which is potentially hazardous when you have no training in that sport, once again, and this can be a difficult conversation, you need to let the principal know that you feel ill-equipped or unqualified to take this particular activity. One particular aspect of the duty of care is where visitors come to the school. Sometimes, these visitors are parents who are coming to the school because of a prior arrangement. But in other cases, they may well be people who've just come in off the street. Where someone enters those school grounds without prior arrangement, they should be directed to the principal's office or to the administration block. If there is some doubt about their motives or you fear that there could be an issue associated with them being there, you may well want to send a student or another teacher to the office while you keep this person under your supervision. Parents and caregivers should be instructed not to go directly to classrooms at any opportunity, but to arrange a time to visit the school, because this can be disruptive. We also need to be careful of people who might be passing through the school, and using it as some form of short cut. In some cases, we may need to convey through the principal to the general public, the fact that this is not permissible. Some schools have signs for this purpose, but signs need to be enforced in some way. In our next lecture, we will consider the issue of whether there is a duty to educate on behalf of teachers. [MUSIC]
