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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
House of Assembly—No 41
As laid on the table and read a first time, 27 October 2004
South Australia
Education
(Compulsory Education) Amendment Bill 2004
A Bill For
An Act to amend the Education Act 1972.
Contents
Part 1—Preliminary
1 Short title
2 Commencement
3 Amendment provisions
Part 2—Amendment of Education
Act 1972
4 Amendment of section 5—Interpretation
5 Substitution of Part 6
Part 6—Compulsory education
74 Obligation to participate in
education system
75 Employment of children of
compulsory education age
76 Exemptions
77 Action to deal with suspected
contravention of compulsory education requirements
78 Persistent contravention of
compulsory education requirements
79 Evidentiary
provisions
The Parliament of South Australia enacts as
follows:
This Act may be cited as the Education (Compulsory Education)
Amendment Act 2004.
This Act will come into operation on a day to be fixed by
proclamation.
In this Act, a provision under a heading referring to the
amendment of a specified Act amends the Act so specified.
Part 2—Amendment of Education Act 1972
4—Amendment of section 5—Interpretation
(1) Section 5(1), after definition of the
Appeal Board—insert:
authorised officer means—
(a) a police officer; or
(b) a person authorised in writing by the Director-General to
exercise the powers of an authorised officer under this Act; or
(c) a
person authorised in writing by the chief executive of the administrative unit
of the Public Service that is, under the relevant Minister, responsible for the
administration of the Family and Community Services Act 1972 to
exercise the powers of an authorised officer under this Act;
(2) Section 5(1), definition of child of compulsory
school age—delete the definition and substitute:
child of compulsory education age means a child of or above the age of 6
years but under the age of 16 years;
Part 6—delete the Part and substitute:
Part 6—Compulsory
education
74—Obligation
to participate in education system
(1) A child of compulsory education age must
participate in the education system—
(a) by being enrolled at a government school or a registered
non-government school and complying with the attendance requirements of the
school; or
(b) if
a parent of the child has been approved by the Minister to provide home
education for the child—by participating in the home education program approved
by the Minister for the child.
(2) If a child fails to participate in the
education system as required by subsection (1), the parents of the child
are each guilty of an offence.
Maximum penalty: $1 250.
75—Employment
of children of compulsory education age
(1) A child of compulsory education age must
not be engaged in employment—
(a) in the case of a child enrolled at a school—
(i) for a period that
conflicts with the attendance requirements of the school; or
(ii) to such an extent that the child is unfit to comply with the
attendance requirements of the school; or
(b) to such an extent that the child is unfit to obtain proper
benefit from participation in the education system.
(2) If a child is engaged in employment in
contravention of subsection (1), the following persons are each guilty of
an offence:
(a) the parents of the child;
(b) if the employer is
not a parent of the child—the employer.
Maximum penalty: $5 000.
76—Exemptions
(1) The
Minister may, by written notice, if satisfied that it is in the best interests
of the child, grant a temporary exemption from a requirement of this Part in
relation to a child, conditionally or unconditionally.
(2) The
Minister may, by written notice, if satisfied that it is in the best interests
of the child, vary or revoke an exemption granted under this section.
77—Action to
deal with suspected contravention of compulsory education requirements
(1) If an authorised officer observes a child
who appears to be a child of compulsory education age in a public place at a
time when children would normally be attending school, the officer may stop and
detain the child and require the child to provide the following information:
(a) the name and address of the child; and
(b) the age of the child; and
(c) the school at which the child is enrolled or the place at
which the child participates in a home education program; and
(d) the reason for the child's absence from the school or place.
(2) An
authorised officer may enter a public place (without paying any charge for the
entry) for the purpose of checking whether any children of compulsory education
age are present there at a time when children would normally be attending
school.
(3) An
authorised officer may, in the circumstances referred to in
subsection (1), if the child is in the charge or company of some person
apparently over the age of 18 years, require the person to provide the
information referred to in that subsection.
(4) If it appears to a police officer, after
making reasonable enquiries, that a child does not have a proper reason for
being in a public place at a time when children would normally be at school,
the officer may take the child into his or her custody and return the child—
(a) if the child is enrolled at a school—to someone in authority
at the school; or
(b) to a parent of the child.
(5) An authorised officer may, at any time of
the day, call at a place of residence and require any person to provide the
following information:
(a) the full names of any child of compulsory education age
present there; and
(b) the age of the child; and
(c) the school at which the child is enrolled or the place at
which the child participates in a home education program.
(6) A person who fails to comply with a
requirement to provide information under this section is guilty of an offence.
Maximum penalty: $5 000.
78—Persistent
contravention of compulsory education requirements
(1) The
Minister may convene a panel to review the circumstances of a case in which a
child persistently fails to participate in the education system in
contravention of this Part.
(2) The panel is to consist of—
(a) at least 1 person with experience as a teacher in schools
(not being a teacher at a school at which the child is enrolled); and
(b) at least 1 person with particular expertise in behavioural
problems of children; and
(c) at least 1 person with particular knowledge of the services
available to address cases of the kind sought to be addressed by this section;
and
(d) any other persons the Minister considers necessary.
(3) The
Minister may, by written notice to a parent of the child, require the parent
and the child to attend before the panel at a specified time and place.
(4) The
Minister must appoint a person to act as an advocate for the child before the
panel.
(5) The
panel must review the circumstances of the case and produce a written report
setting out its findings and its recommendations as to a course of action to
promote the child's proper participation in the education system.
(6) The
report must be given to the Minister who must, subject to subsection (7),
give a copy of the report to the child, the parents of the child and the person
appointed as the child's advocate.
(7) The Minister is not obliged to give a copy
of the report to a particular person if—
(a) the Minister is of the opinion that it would not be in the
best interests of the child to do so; or
(b) the whereabouts of the person cannot, after reasonable
enquiries, be ascertained.
(8) If
a panel has been convened under this section in relation to a child's failure
to participate in the education system, the Minister must, in determining
whether or not any proceedings should be instituted against a parent of the
child in respect of that failure, have regard to the course of action
recommended by the panel in its report and the extent to which the course of
action has been put into effect.
(9) A person who fails to attend with the
person's child in accordance with a notice under subsection (3) is guilty
of an offence.
Maximum penalty: $1 250.
79—Evidentiary provisions
(1) An
apparently genuine document purporting to be signed by the head teacher of a
school stating that, at a specified time, a specified child was enrolled at the
school and was not in attendance there in contravention of the attendance
requirements of the school will, in any proceedings under this Act, constitute
proof of the matters stated in the document in the absence of proof to the
contrary.
(2) An apparently genuine document purporting
to be signed by an authorised officer and stating that—
(a) a specified person is a parent of a child specified in the
document; or
(b) a child specified in the document was, at a specified time,
of a specified age; or
(c) a child specified in the document was or was not, at a
specified time—
(i) enrolled at a
school or a specified school; or
(ii) a child for whom a person was an approved by the Minister to
provide home education; or
(d) a person specified in the document was, at a specified time,
the head teacher of a specified school,
will, in any proceedings under this Act, constitute proof of the matters stated in the document in the absence of proof to the contrary.