As a result of the 2016 Nyland Royal Commission into child protection, the South Australian Government introduced the Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016. The Working With Children Check (WWCC) is a requirement introduced under this Act to further improve checks on people who work or volunteer with children and is mandatory for anyone in South Australia who works with children. WWCCs are valid for five years from the date of issue.
If you have a current Department of Human Services (DHS) WWCC obtained as a student or for volunteering purposes, it can be used for teacher registration. However, if you start paid work as a teacher, you need to apply for a new WWCC within 28 days of starting the paid work.
You can apply for a WWCC through the Department of Human Services in South Australia.
What does it check?
The WWCC involves an assessment of information to ensure a person’s fitness to work with children.
For example:
- child protection information
- disciplinary action
- spent convictions
- information sourced from professional registration bodies
- pending charges
- findings of guilt as well as non-conviction charges
- the context and circumstances of any offending
- the seriousness and relevance of any conviction(s).
The WWCC also includes a check of a person’s national criminal history (including withdrawn, spent, non-convictions), charges (including pending, withdrawn, dismissed, acquitted) and non-conviction charges), and other disciplinary and police information.
- A spent conviction is one that does not need to be ordinarily declared.
- A pending charge is a charge that has not yet been decided by a court.
- A non-conviction charge is a charge that has been finalised by a court but did not result in a conviction. For example, a charge: that has been withdrawn; that has been the subject of a nolle prosequi; a no true bill or a submission of no evidence to offer; that led to a conviction that was quashed on appeal; or upon which a person was acquitted or disposed of by a court otherwise than by way of conviction
This information is collected from sources in Australia and is only disclosed to the Board if it relates to a person’s fitness to work with children. Under the CAU agreement with the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC), matters relating to fitness and probity revealed in the WWCC are not disclosable to any other organisation including the Teachers Registration Board.
For example, if a teacher who applies for a WWCC has been charged with defrauding a school, the CAU would not be able to disclose this to the Board and the person would still be issued a WWCC as this charge does not relate to the person’s fitness to work with children. However, the Board does need this information, as this is a matter of fitness and probity concerning their suitability to be a registered teacher, therefore, the Board conducts their own police check.
The WWCC considers all relevant offences across a person’s lifetime. Ongoing monitoring of WWCC holders and applicants is conducted, which enables action to be taken to protect children and young people if the person is charged with a concerning offence, including the cancelling of a WWCC.
To find out further details on what the WWCC assesses, visit the DHS website here.
To become a registered teacher or to renew your teacher registration you will be required to have a current WWCC as well as give your consent for the Board to conduct a police check as part of the registration process. Both are requirements for teacher registration in South Australia.
Cancellation of Teacher Registration
If the CAU determines that a teacher should be prohibited from working with children, it will issue a Notice of Prohibited Person to both the teacher and to the Board.
Pursuant to s24A of the Act, upon receipt of a Notice of Prohibited Person, the Board will automatically cancel a teacher’s registration.
A teacher who has had their registration cancelled under s24A of the Act cannot regain their teacher registration until they are no longer considered to be a Prohibited Person by the CAU.
