An investigation into allegations of nepotism in Victorian Government schools has found the practice to be alive and well.
In her report, Investigations into allegations of nepotism in government schools, Ombudsman, Deborah Glass (pictured) says family members and associates of principals continue to be hired without principals properly declaring or managing their potential conflicts of interest.
“Over the past decade, the Department of Education has built a comprehensive policy framework including detailed advice about conflicts of interest,” Ms Glass said.
“Despite this, complaints about nepotism in schools continue unabated,” she said.
“Troublingly, many investigations continue to find that jobs and contracts are given to family members, associates or related businesses of principals or other senior staff without their conflicts of interest being declared or managed.”
Ms Glass said the Department’s policies were spread across multiple documents on multiple sites, and all of the principals she investigated were unclear about their obligations.
She said it was therefore not surprising that busy school principals did not have a few quiet hours to explore the Department’s website.
“But it is disappointing that despite the money spent on professional development, training in ethical decision making is still needed,” she said.
“Mostly, the subjects of these allegations were well-intentioned, busy people trying to solve problems who got it wrong.”
Ms Glass said she had raised the systemic issues that her investigation uncovered with the Department but did not make any recommendations because it had already put considerable effort into building a comprehensive policy framework and communicating those policies through training and other initiatives.
The Ombudsman’s 31-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
