What the Four Corner’s report on St Kevin’s has taught us about recruitment

Displacing a problem was the hallmark of Institutional responses to child sexual abuse in the 20th Century.  When a staff member (or priest) received too many complaints in one school or parish, they were moved to a different area where they would abuse new children and the cycle continued. 

Displacement of the problem continues to be a risk today.  When a school or service terminates the employment of an individual based on breaches of the Code of Conduct, there is no clear process to alert future employers of this risk.  If an individual is criminally charged, then this will impact their capacity to work with children in the future, but if the school or service intervenes before criminal conduct occurs (which is ideal) then a person is free to apply for another role working with children.

One of the most concerning aspects of the Four Corners report was the willingness of the school personnel to provide character references for a teacher that had not only breached the Code of Conduct but engaged in criminal conduct also.  If the teacher had not been charged with a criminal offence, it is possible he would have applied for work in another school with positive references from his last employer.

So if you are recruiting staff for your school or service, how could you possibly screen out this inappropriate candidate? 

This cautionary tale highlights the importance of a thorough recruitment strategy, which does not rely on any one check or process.  Rather, each stage of the recruitment process should discourage inappropriate candidates and screen for red flags.   

A child safe recruitment strategy should address the initial advertisement, process for screening resumes, strong interview questions, conducting referee checks and confirming evidence of qualifications.  If such a teacher applied for a role in your organisation, your best chance of uncovering problems would be with great interview questions and targeted inquiries in the referee check.   

We share a few interview questions on this blog, or you can download a PDF of 16 great interview questions here.