Liability depends on three things. What are they and give an example.

A person suffering harm will be entitled to compensation if he or she can establish that a
member of the teaching staff, non-teaching staff, volunteer or external provider was
negligent and the negligence was the care of the persons harm. This member of staff is
liable. Negligence is an unintentional and non-criminal act that is only present when:
- there is a duty of care owed to the plaintiff, by the defendant
- the defendant breaches the duty of care and fails to exercise the required standard of care
- the plaintiff has suffered loss as a result of the defendants lack of care, and that loss must
have been reasonably foreseeable.

An example of this would be the State of Victoria V Bryar & Another case. In this case the
educator has lost control of his class for half and hour, however, continued to teach with his
back to the students. In the end a student was hit in the by a small pallet that caused
damage. In this case there is definitely a duty of care owed to the students. The educator
breaches this duty of care by allowing the misbehaviour to occur, in the end causing loss to
the student who was hit.

What is Vicarious Liability. Explain and give an example.

Liability can be direct, you own liability, or vicarious, of the business for you. An action of
liability depends on three elements, these are:
- there must be tort (usually negligence for teachers)
- the teacher has to be an employee of the defendants school/authority
- the teacher had to be acting in the course of their employment

This can be seen in the Dunn V State of Victoria case where the state took responsibly for
the educators actions. In this case grade five students where playing at lunch time with one
teacher on duty, where there should have been three. There was a fight that started, one
child was chased and had rocks thrown at them. One rock hit the student in the eye. There
was tort present by the school who failed to roster the correct number of teachers. The
educator present was an employee of the school and also acted in their course of
employment, therefore the school is liable.

What are the factors relevant in determining a breach of “duty of care”. Give
an example.
a. The foreseeability of harm;
b. The magnitude of the risk of that harm occurring;
c. The gravity of the harm that may take place;
d. The cost and practicability of preventing it;
e. The justifications for running the risk.

An example of this would be the Bartley V Haines; Oliver V Haines Case. In this care the
teacher had left the classroom as lunchtime and let two students conduct an experiment with
harmful chemicals that led to burns to 13% of one child’s body. In this case there are
foreseeable risks of harm in the use of hazardous chemicals and the use of a classroom and
not a laboratory. This breaches the first factor. The second factor explores the magnitude of
this risk occurring. In this case the chemicals sulfur and chlorine where used. This meant
there was a great chance that harm would have occurred, breaching the second factor. The
third point explores the severity of harm that could occur. This is highlighted in the case
when the boy gets burns to 13% of his body. In this case, all harm could have been
prevented if the teacher was present, the students where wearing protective gear and the
experiment was carried out in a laboratory, rather than a classroom. This shows a breach in
factor four. In this case there was no need for the students to be carrying out the experiment
at this time and in the certain location. The educator had no justification for this, leading to
a breach in duty of care.

Discuss the Symes and Symes case and the implications of it on teachers.
In this case a student is hit in the eye by a toy glider that resulted in loss of sight. Previously,
the Principal had banned the gliders in the classroom, stating that students could use the
gliders on the oval when supervised. As well as this, the educator had been confiscating any
gliders that she saw in the classroom, as they were a distraction. Following this she hadn’t
realised any other gliders. On this particular day the students where cleaning out their desks
and a troublesome student found his glider. The educator was at her desk when the
troublesome student released the glider hitting the other student in the eye.

This case explore that if an educator does as much as possible to prevent harm and follows
the right procedures and policies as well as follows the right duty of care they cannot be
found negligent. This incident still happened when all foreseeable risk where taken care of.
If a situation its not foreseeable then you cannot be found negligent. In a classroom it is
impossible to see everything.

What are teachers responsibility around “duty of care.” What is bullying and
the impacts of it.
A duty of care is imposed by the law to take care and minimise the risk of harm to another
(Department of Education, 2019, p.3). This duty of care arose from the fact that students must
attend school and in turn should feel safe and be taken care of. The duty requires not only
protection from down hazards, but also protection from harm that could foreseeably arise in
which preventative measured could have been taken (Department of Education, 2019, p.3). In
discharging their duty of care responsibilities, teaching staff must exercise their professional
judgement and satisfy themselves that the person is suitable for the task being assigned. As
an educator you must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can
reasonably foresee would be likely to cause injury. Foreseeability is a risk of injury that is
remote, extremely unlikely to occur, not far fetched or fanciful and is real. A duty of care
always exists. When it comes to bullying an educator has a duty of care to get it under
control and prevent it occurring further.

Bullying is the repeated negative actions towards a specific person or group that are
intended to distress. It causes distress/harm or fear for the student(s) targeted. Bullying
explores an imbalance of power inn favour of the person(s) taking the aggressive actions.
Bullying is the repeated verbal, physical or psychological behaviour that is harmful and
involved the misuse of power by an individual group or towards one or more persons. Cyber
bulling fevers to bullying through information and communication technologies. Bullying of
any form or for any reason can have long-term effects on those involved including
bystanders. There are many impacts of victimisation, some include:
- psychosomatic symptoms
- fear of school/education
- depressive symptoms
- peer rejections
Long term impacts could be that:
- all mental, social and physical effects track to adulthood
- students who bully others have a higher chance of criminality
- students who are bullied experience interpersonal difficulties