Child safety and wellbeing

Taking appropriate regulatory action 

• introduced enhanced Authorised Officer powers to strengthen oversight and support the early identification of risks
• published an independent review of the Professional Conduct Branch and launched VIT’s Reform Agenda to strengthen child safety and improve regulatory processes
• conducted 1,908 reassessments to ensure teachers and applicants continued to meet registration requirements
• imposed registration conditions on 81 teachers
• refused 20 applications where registration requirements were not met
• suspended 29 teachers on an interim basis to protect children and maintain public confidence in the profession
• conducted five disciplinary hearings to address serious conduct matters. 

Reviewing our policies and processes

• reviewed key regulatory policies and processes to ensure they remain fit for purpose 
• published a Child Safety and Wellbeing Framework and centralised child safety guidance
• enhanced decision-making frameworks and operational processes
• progressed VIT’s Reconciliation Action Plan through partnership and engagement 
• strengthened complaints, reporting and child safety processes
• developed new tools and guidance to support staff decision-making
• updated the Code of Conduct to reflect contemporary standards.

Improved information sharing and collaboration with our partners and stakeholders

• supported sector-wide child safety reforms, including the Victorian Government’s Rapid Child Safety Review
• provided guidance on changes to the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 through a webinar and fact sheet
• enhanced information-sharing and collaboration with key regulatory and child safety agencies
• published an Information Sharing Framework and updated VIT’s Privacy Policy.

Education and support for teachers and employers 

• delivered Welcome to the Profession Conferences to support graduate teachers entering the Victorian teaching profession, with a focus on professional responsibilities, ethical conduct and professional standards
• delivered 16 seminars across Victorian initial teacher education providers to support pre-service teachers to understand their professional and child safety obligations
• delivered 157 workshops and seminars to help teachers understand their professional responsibilities and the Victorian Teaching Profession’s Code of Conduct and Ethics
• delivered targeted Code of Conduct webinars for teachers and employers
• published guidance, case studies and resources to support teachers to understand and meet their professional obligations.

Our Child Safety and Wellbeing Framework outlines how we promote and protect child safety across all areas of our work. It reflects community expectations, professional standards and our regulatory responsibilities, and guides how we embed child safety into everything we do.

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Our Child Safety Project provides a coordinated, organisation-wide approach to strengthening how we protect the safety and wellbeing of children and young people. It focuses on key areas for improvement, including system-enabled data collection and monitoring, clearer and more consistent information-sharing practices, stronger compliance and enforcement, and improved collaboration with other child safety bodies.   

The project supports the Rapid Child Safety Review and ensures child safety is a central consideration across all our functions and within the broader child safety landscape. It will

• provide strong governance and oversight of child safety actions across VIT  
• identify interdependencies and reduce duplication
• align initiatives with a shared, system-wide child safety strategy
• promote consistent reporting, transparency and accountability for outcomes that keep children and young people safe
• identify further opportunities to strengthen community confidence through improved visibility, coordination and central oversight of child safety actions.

If you have any questions about this project, please contact the Strategy team at [email protected]. 

Teachers who hold current registration with VIT are exempt from holding a Working with Children Check (WWCC) as they are already carefully regulated by VIT.

While the WWCC scheme plays an important role in assessing suitability for child-related work, our regulatory framework involves a more detailed, profession specific assessment of suitability to teach, consistent with our statutory role.

We undertake comprehensive suitability assessments and consider a wide range of information, including

• criminal record information (Australian and international)
• Victoria Police notifications
• WWCC notifications
• employment notifications
• complaints
• notifications from other regulators or agencies
• health information
• other relevant information, including professional conduct history and external investigations.

These assessments help ensure teachers are safe to work with children and young people.

While teachers don’t need to hold a WWCC, they must notify Working with Children Check Victoria (WWCCV) if they undertake any paid or voluntary child-related work outside their teaching role. This includes providing details about

• the person or organisation employing them for child-related work, or
• any agency where they are listed as available to undertake child-related work.

For more information, see our FAQs > Working with Children page.

Protecting children relies on strong partnerships. We work closely with other child safety bodies which includes co‑regulators, government agencies, employers and law enforcement to share child safety information where permitted, to help manage and reduce child safety risks.

Sharing child safety information helps to

• prevent harm to children and young people
• support informed decisions about suitability to work with children and young people
• promote transparency and accountability
• assure the community that child safety risks and concerns are known and visible across the child safety system
• coordinate action effectively across child safety bodies.

For details about how we share information, see our Information Privacy Policy.

Teachers are mandatory reporters. This means they must recognise and respond when a child’s safety, health or wellbeing may be at risk, including by reporting concerns to the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing or Victoria Police.

Free online eLearning is available for all Victorian teachers through Protecting Children - Mandatory Reporting and Other Obligations (PROTECT).

For fully registered teachers, completing this training may contribute towards professional learning hours for annual registration requirements, aligning with descriptors 4.4, 6.2, 6.4, 7.1 and 7.2 of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST).