Professional
The power of the paper trail By Helen Olivieri Legal services case manager
Educators already have plenty of writing to do, on top of actually teaching classes. The last thing we want to do is document every little thing that might be important in some way during the working day.
You need to rely on the accuracy of this information in order to make important decisions, like when to apply for leave for your next big holiday, or whether to ask about going part time.
However, it is important to do so if we want to protect ourselves from unnecessary trouble, make good decisions, or maintain our work relationships and our sanity.
Always send an email query and ask for a written response. If you need them to respond within a timeframe, say so in writing.
It doesn’t have to be onerous, and once you do it as a habit, it will make much of your teaching life easier in so many ways. Many members can avoid a great deal of difficulty if they stop relying so heavily on what they were told, something they heard, or what was said in a meeting and get in the habit of writing things down. We are not talking about essays here; in reality, it’s about taking brief notes, or sending short emails. It also needs to be understood that this applies to many areas of our working lives, not just the business of asserting our rights or responding to allegations.
Getting good and timely information from payroll, staffing or employee support Everyone is accountable for what they put in writing in their professional capacity and as a government employee. A payroll officer must exercise due diligence and give correct information on people’s pay and other entitlements when asked. However, only written information provides sure evidence as to what advice they gave. Putting advice in writing, therefore, usually makes people doublecheck and ensure their advice is correct. What we hear over the phone is not always what the speaker intended you to understand, but also, they can get it wrong. When you are seeking accurate information in relation to any aspect of your employment, never just ring. 12
Western Teacher January 2021
There is nothing wrong with a phone query, but never make important decisions based on information only obtained verbally. Follow up with an email confirming – to check for understanding and accuracy.
Covering yourself – work instructions and directives These are usually given in writing anyway, and for a good reason: your line manager does not want the instruction to be forgotten or misunderstood, they want it to be followed. A failure to follow a work instruction or directive can attract disciplinary action. Therefore, if you find any part of an instruction is unclear or you find that, for whatever reason, the instruction cannot be followed, you must seek the required clarification (or explicitly point out your concerns with the instruction or directive) as early as possible. Do this in writing and be very clear and specific. Do not just tell your boss there is a problem. If you had to follow the instruction in a different way from what was asked for by your manager, you should note this in a brief email to them, including reasons why.
Covering yourself – workplace incidents If there is an accident in the workplace, where someone is, or could have been, injured, there is a form you should seek out to complete (commonly known as
an AIIR form – or Accidental Injury or Incident Report) as a requirement of any workplace occupational safety and health regime. This should apply regardless of whether the injured person is a staff member, student, parent or someone else. However, other kinds of incidents are wise to document also, even if your school has not put in place a process for doing so already. If you see, or are exposed to, difficult or escalated behaviour from any student, parent, staff member or other person at the workplace, you should document this in brief notes, including what steps you took to address the behaviour. Seeing and stopping a student bullying another student is one example of this. Depending on your school’s behaviour management policy, report it to the school if necessary. It’s a good idea to document any irregularities that might give rise to a concern during the working day. For instance, any incident in which you are aware you might have overstepped a boundary, or appeared to, ought to be documented – no employee has a perfect day, every day. Keeping a regular diary is a good way of documenting all incidents, writing down the what, as precisely as you can, as well as the time and date and perhaps also why you consider it was important. Every lecturer, every teacher, however competent, will come across students, parents or guardians who will be unhappy with how a matter was handled and may make a complaint, sometimes formally. If you have been keeping notes on any irregularities or incidents of concern, however minor – perhaps in a daily diary – this will help if you are later required to provide a written response to any formal allegations.
