Human Research Ethics Committee:
Working with Children Check - Procedures
Section 4 of the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans refers to ethical considerations with regard to research involving Children and Young People.
As at July 2000 new legislation was introduced in New South Wales that affects all people working with children and young people. This includes staff and students who are undertaking research involving children. A child is defined as a person under 18 years of age.
The legislation, namely:
- Child Protection (Prohibited Employment) Act 1998 (NSW); and
- Commissions for Children and Young People Act 1998
has been enacted to create safe and protected workplaces for children.
If you intend to undertake research with children, in an unsupervised capacity, you are obliged to obtain a "Working with Children Check" before you commence your research. Unsupervised capacity primarily involves direct contact with children where that contact will not be witnessed by another adult person or persons.
Approval to undertake research activities involving children will not be granted until the Human Research Ethics Committee is satisfied that the Working with Children Check enables you to work with children.
The Working with Children Check includes a criminal record check for child abuse, child pornography, sexual activity or acts of indecency, apprehended violence orders and previous relevant disciplinary proceedings. If the check results in you being classified as a 'prohibited person', that is a person convicted of a serious sexual offence, then approval to undertake unsupervised research with children will not be granted.
You are invited to visit the Commission for Children and Young People's website, which provides useful and detailed information on the legislation.
How to obtain the working with Children Check
- Students and Staff of the University who will be undertaking research with children in an unsupervised capacity should download the forms contained at the following websites.
- Both the Consent Form and the Prohibited Employment Declaration form should be filled in, and forwarded to the Employee Relations Officer, as per details below.
- The Employee Relations Officer will then forward these forms to the Screening Agency that has been nominated by the University as a whole. The Screening Agency will then send the notification to the Employee Relations Officer, who will then forward a copy to the researcher. It is expected that there will be an approximate 3 week turn around on this process.
- Researchers will be given final approval to commence data collection once the notification of clearance has been received by the Division of Human Resources and this clearance has been communicated to the Executive Officer HREC.
For more information contact the Executive Officer to the Committee:
| Executive Officer
Email: ethics@csu.edu.au Phone: 02 6338 4628 Fax: 02 6338 4194 |
Location Office of Academic Governance Building C1-1 CSU Bathurst Campus |
Postal Address Office of Academic Governance Charles Sturt University Panorama Avenue Bathurst NSW 2795 |