NEWSLETTER
MANAGING COMPLIANCES FOR YOUR SCHOOL
Challenges of Compliance Management
Education institutions need to ensure high standards of operations and make sure that they have in place and are following not only regulatory best practices but ethical best practices as well.
Compliance management, within any company – especially those within the education sector, is necessary to ensure responsible operations. Failure to comply with relevant laws and regulations can result in serious consequences, the most tangible being financial penalties. There have been many chases of the more serious compliance offenses that have resulted in lawsuits and incarceration. The reputational damage and disruption to your school can be far greater than the tangible penalties.
Compliance at schools is necessary for:
- Student Safety:
Compliance with legal requirements ensures the safety and well-being of students. Staff members need to be aware of safety protocols, emergency procedures, and child protection guidelines.
- Privacy Rights:
Staff must understand privacy laws and protect student and staff information. Compliance ensures that sensitive data remains confidential and is handled appropriately.
- Ethical Conduct:
Staff compliance involves adhering to ethical standards. This includes treating students and colleagues with respect, maintaining professional boundaries, and avoiding conflicts of interest.
- Financial Accountability:
Staff should be aware of financial regulations and responsible for managing school resources. Compliance prevents misuse of funds and ensures transparency.
- Regulatory Standards:
Schools must comply with educational regulations set by government bodies. Staff need to stay informed about changes in policies, curriculum requirements, and assessment guidelines.
Staff compliance contributes to a safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environment. It protects both students and staff while maintaining the integrity of the educational institution.
The following are simple ways to improve compliance management within your school.
Set up solid compliance policies and procedures
It is probably obvious but ensuring that you have extensive compliance policies and procedures is a must for a successful compliance management strategy. Together with your policies, having a well-defined code of conduct makes sure that your staff are well equipped to tackle compliance. Following on, having an easy and accessible way to get to the policies and procedures for your staff will ensure that there are no barriers for your staff to know of the school policies.
Good record-keeping and documentation is crucial to remain compliant
Each staff, new and existing, must be clear where these policies and procedures are, and you must have a record that every staff member has read, understood and acknowledged the policies. Records and documentation are essential, not only to help you track, report, and fix compliance errors, but they can also serve as critical evidence in case of litigation.
OrgView offers the capability for recording and archiving history of compliance records and email records which are properly stored and tamper-proof. That way you’ll be able to easily keep track of your communication records and seamlessly search through your repository in case you need to present them as evidence in court.
From Day 1 – make sure that everyone is onboard and educate your staff
From the start of a staff’s tenure at your school – with Onboarding – ensure that staff understand what it means to be compliant. It is essential to clearly communicate the rules and make sure your staff are familiar with them and any changes that occur during their tenure. Compliance training and education are essential and need to be performed regularly in order to keep them updated about the latest regulatory changes.
OrgView offers the capability within the Onboarding Module to allow HR to present new and existing staff of the compliances that staff must adhere to. Having a self-serve portal that all staff can access with access to policies and procedures makes it a simple matter to ensure that there is one place for staff to go to.
Audits and policy updates are necessary for detecting and fixing compliance issues
Setting up a compliance policy isn’t a one-time activity. Laws and regulations are constantly changing, and you need to stay on top of them.
Even if the regulations have not changed, you should be conducting regular audits in order to identify any potential risks before they become a serious problem.
It is not easy to create a culture of compliance in the education sector. Compliance management is a dynamic process that requires constant adjustments and continuous training and education. With solid compliance policies, a good record-keeping strategy, an ongoing staff training program, and regular audits and updates, you can create an easy path to compliance.
OrgView offers capability for HR to define the compliances that are required for each position – teaching or non-teaching, thereby quickly identifying those staff that are non-compliant. Email notifications to staff, Managers and HR of staff that have compliances due for renewal, or have expired, ensure that you school is fully managing compliances. Having the ability to request staff to review and acknowledge the reading of any new compliance or policy, helps you make compliance management more efficient, effective and completely eliminating the risk of non-compliance for your school.
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