Safety checking students on practicum

All children’s workers need to be safety checked to the standard set out in the Children’s Act Act 2014. This includes students on practicum.

While it is the responsibility of each early childhood education (ECE) service, k?hanga reo or playgroup to ensure the safety check has been completed, some components of the safety check may be done by a person or organisation acting on behalf of the ECE service, k?hanga reo or playgroup.

Most tertiary education organisations (TEOs) already undertake similar checks for students as part of their screening and enrolments processes.

If you are hosting a student on placement and you wish to rely on a TEO to carry out the safety check for that student on your behalf, we recommend you obtain a letter from the TEO confirming this. The letter should contain details about which components of the safety check have been completed and that they have been done to the standard set out in the Children’s Act. A separate letter should be obtained for each named student teacher.

CLICK HERE for a sample format.

If any components of the safety check have not been completed by the TEO, you are responsible for completing these. We recommend you complete the identity check and risk assessment, even if these have already been completed by the TEO.