June 1, 2016 at 4:21 pm
MUT’s reaction to new Legal Notice on Protection of Minors in Education
Following a request by the media, the following is the Union’s reaction to the Legal Notice 206 of 2016 entitled “Recruitment, Initial Training and Continuous Professional Development of Personnel and Protection of Minors in Compulsory Education Regulations, 2016” just issued:
The Legal Notice (L.N. 206 of 2016) establishes recruitment procedures and affirms practices which are already being carried out by the great majority of educational institutions. The selection procedures through interviews carried out by competent personnel, the presentation of a clean police conduct, together with induction and mentoring of new personnel are standard practices in most schools.
Similarly, the majority of schools enact and adhere to standard child protection policies and already carry out information sessions on child protection issues whilst having a designated person whose role is to put forward children’s well being. The Legal Notice enforces these practices in all schools whilst introducing a new requirement from applicants in the form of a self declaration about any conviction/investigation together with other recruitment practices such as referencing methods.
The MUT will be evaluating this Legal Notice especially in view of its impact on the already substantial loads placed on Heads of Schools, in particular those at Church and Independent Schools.
