The protective practices for staff in their interactions with children and young people (PDF 1 MB) are for staff and volunteers. Following these guidelines is mandatory.

The guidelines outline responsibilities and the expected standards of behaviour to maintain professional boundaries that help create positive, caring and respectful relationships with children and young people.

Updates to the guidelines in 2025

In 2025, the guidelines have been updated to include:

• legislation and policy updates
• 2 legal obligations: failure to report and failure to protect a child or young person from sexual harm
• emphasis on cultivating cultural responsiveness when working with Aboriginal children and young people
• advice for delivering online training
• printable resources for sites.

Printable resources

Use the new printable resources to promote the guidelines to staff and volunteers and develop an action plan to manage potential risks:

• A3 protective practices poster (PDF 140 KB) to display in visible areas
• A4 protective practices flyer (PDF 284 KB) with examples and frequently asked questions
• action plan (DOCX 38 KB) to manage potential risk of breach of professional boundaries.

Protective practices guiding principles

Maintaining professional boundaries ensures that children and young people’s safety and wellbeing are held paramount in any interaction. To achieve this, all staff interactions and site activities must be:

• undertaken publicly
• authorised
• timely
• purposeful.

Make it public

• Other persons in the site community are aware and interactions are visible.
• Activities should not be done in an isolated place.
• The more visible, public and accessible the location, the better.

Make it authorised

• Approved by the site leader or part of an official site activity and a legitimate part of your role.
• Parents/carers should be informed and give consent as appropriate.
• Only use site’s authorised ICT equipment and digital platforms for approved activities such as communicating with children and young people and only use devices issued by the site or service for taking, sharing and storing their images or videos.

Make it timely

• As far as possible, undertake activity or provide support within the site’s or program’s official hours of operation.
• Ensure activities undertaken outside of official hours are preapproved and authorised by site leadership.

Make it purposeful

• The interaction should be linked to a learning activity or curriculum area, support plan or program that relates to a child’s learning, safety, health or wellbeing.

Online training for staff and volunteers

Staff and volunteers can access protective practices training on plink (login required).

The training is optional.

It’s available to all education staff and volunteers who work with children and young people. This includes government and non-government schools and preschools.

School principals and preschool directors can use the training to lead discussions with staff and volunteers. The training has specific scenarios – they’re a good way to talk about how to apply the guidelines.

In person option

For some staff and volunteers, the online course might not be suitable. A face-to-face version of this course is available. Site leaders can contact their education sector’s help desk for more information about running an in-person training session.

Department for Education sites
Engagement and Wellbeing
Email: education.KCS@sa.gov.au
Phone: 8226 2042

Catholic Education SA sites
Phone: 8301 6600

Association of Independent Schools of SA sites
Phone: 8179 1400

Information for families

Families can read the protective practices information for parents and carers.