CMR-PR-001: Complaints Management - State Schools

• Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 (Qld) Chapter 2, Part 6, s. 46 http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/LEGISLTN/CURRENT/E/EducGenPrA06.pdf

• Grievance Resolution Directive 11/07 http://www.justice.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/14617/no11-07.pdf
• Customer Satisfaction - Guidelines for Complaints Handling in Organizations (AS ISO 10002 - 2006) http://www.saiglobal.com/PDFTemp/Previews/OSH/AS/AS10000/10000/10002-2006.pdf

• IFM-PR-008: Records Management in Schools and Non-School Offices /strategic/eppr/information/ifmpr008/
• SMS-PR-012: Student Protection /strategic/eppr/students/smspr012/index.html

Statement of intent

Complaints Management applies to complaints about state schools and related services provided to students through schools.

For complaints relating to alleged staff official misconduct or criminal activity, the complainant may refer their complaint to either:

• the supervisor of the person whom the complaint is made against
• any Education Queensland personnel if the complaint relates to harm or possible risk of harm to young people (see SMS-PR-012: Student Protection)
• Crime and Misconduct Commission
• Queensland Police Service .

Complaints Management does not apply to complaints made by employees concerning other employees (see Grievance Resolution Directive 11/07 ).

Complaints are responded to as a matter of priority and will be used as a mechanism for improving services to students and parents/carers. Complaints procedures 47k are available to all students, parents and members of the public.

Parties should attempt to resolve complaints at the point where the problem or issue arose.

If a complaint is made about a person, that person has the right to know the details of the complaint and be given the opportunity to make a statement of reply.

All people involved in the complaint process have the right to be supported by an appropriate third party.

The complaint management process will be unbiased, objective and impartial.

Education Queensland will manage all complaints fairly and with due regard to the rights of employees of the department who are the subject of complaints.

Education Queensland's complaints management process will be implemented in a flexible way that is culturally appropriate and responsive to any special needs of all people involved.

Personal information collected as part of the complaints process will not be released publicly.

Anonymous complaints will be accepted. There are generally two types of anonymous complaints:

• the first is where the complainant refuses to supply their own name
• the second type of anonymous complaint is one where other identifying information is not supplied.

In either case, complainants are to be informed, where possible, that refusal to supply certain relevant information may be a significant barrier to either the ability to adequately investigate or resolve a complaint.

Processes for managing complaints comply with the Australian Standard for Customer Satisfaction - Guidelines for Complaints Handling in Organisations .

Responsibilities

• inform students, parents, staff, teachers and the broader community of the process for managing complaints
• deal with all school complaints at the appropriate level in the first instance
• make an accurate record of all complaints
• respond to complaints in a timely manner
• monitor and report on the type of complaints received
• advise complainants of the process for referring unresolved complaints to line managers
• widely promote the complaints management process with stakeholder feedback being accepted willingly
• uphold fairness towards both complainants and employees throughout the complaint management process
• implement local processes to support effective complaint handling
• integrate complaints information into organisational improvement activities.

• provide an Education Queensland officer with details about a complaint associated with an educational service
• provide complete and factual information in a timely manner
• do not include deliberately false or misleading information
• deliver the complaint in a non-threatening manner
• do not make frivolous or vexatious complaints.
  

• develop a process for managing complaints from students, parents, staff, teachers and the broader community within the intent of this policy and the 4-step Making a Complaint document published on the Education Queensland website
• may adopt the attached template for developing a School Complaints Management Procedure 47k template as the basis for local processes or use it as a guide that sets the minimum standard required
• develop the school process in consultation with the school community and endorsed by the Parents and Citizens' Association and Regional Director
• ensure all parents and students are provided with a copy of the Making a Complaint document
• make the school's Complaints Management Procedure readily available to members of the school community
• principals may refer the complaint to the Regional Director after discussing the matter with the Regional Director.
  

• use TRIM as the electronic complaints management system to manage each complaint received and report on the types of complaints received where a complainant is requesting a review of the decision by a school principal
• ensure complaints are documented by following the Complaints Management Guideline 88k
• refer to complaint referral to regional director for resolution of complaints.
  

Forms

• Not Applicable

• Complaints Management Guideline 88k

Other relevant documents

• Definitions/strategic/eppr/community/cmrpr001/definitions.html
• School Complaints Management Procedure 47k/strategic/eppr/community/cmrpr001/template.pdf
• A guide to developing procedures can be found in s. 5 of Developing Effective Complaints Management Policy and Procedures http://www.ombudsman.qld.gov.au/Portals/0/docs/Publications/CM_Resources/Developing%20effective%20complaints%20management%20policy%20and%20procedures%202006.pdf
• Template for developing a School Complaints Management Procedure/strategic/eppr/community/cmrpr001/interim.html
• Record of Verbal Complaint template 35k/strategic/eppr/community/cmrpr001/verbal.doc

Contacts

For further information, please contact:

For further information, please contact:

Complaints Line - (07) 3405 5703

For further information, please contact: No results from phone include!

• CMR-PR-001: Complaints Management - State Schools - Version: 1.0