An introduction to concerns and complaints
Concerns and complaints are usually a sign that a member of your school community (such as whānau, students, or staff) is dissatisfied with an experience at the school.
Seeing them as a form of feedback can lead to improvements for everyone, so they should be welcomed and genuinely considered.
By monitoring concerns and complaints, you’ll better understand what is happening within the school and help ensure that policies and procedures are working as intended.
What is the difference between a concern and a complaint?
The terms are often used interchangeably, but it can be helpful to differentiate between them in your school policies and procedures.
Generally, concerns relate to situations in the classroom, school-based events, or relationships within the school. They are often minor issues or situations someone feels worried about, finds unsatisfactory, or unfair.
Concerns should be resolved at a low level directly with the person involved, (such as the classroom teacher) or by a senior staff member or the principal.
Complaints are often more serious situations that occur at a school-wide level, or are concerns that have not been satisfactorily resolved at a lower level. They may also be about the principal or directed at your board itself.
It is usually your board’s responsibility to handle a complaint because it is ultimately accountable for the actions of school staff (as their employer) and its policies, decisions, and actions.
What is your board's role in managing concerns and complaints?
Your board should:
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Develop and regularly review the concerns and complaints policy.
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Ensure the policy is regularly shared with your school community and applied consistently.
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Ensure, through the principal, that staff record any concerns raised with them in the school's concerns and complaints register.
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Monitor concerns and complaints data presented to your board through your principal's report.
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Apply the principles of natural justice and manage complaints to your board fairly and without prejudice.
What should you do if a concern is raised with you directly?
Occasionally, you may be contacted directly by a community member with a concern.
Individual board members must not get involved in trying to resolve a concern.
It is best to direct them to your school’s concerns and complaints process. This way, the concern can be raised directly with the people involved and has the best chance of being resolved promptly.
What should your board do when receiving a concern or complaint?
The first thing your board must do when receiving a complaint is determine if your concerns and complaints process has been followed or not.
Sometimes, boards receive a letter of concern without the complainant following the school's concerns and complaints process.
When this happens, your board should direct the complainant to the principal to deal with it at the lowest level possible.
Concerns that school staff cannot resolve may be directed to your board and, in doing so, become a complaint.
What should you do if the concern relates to a staff member?
Your board must exercise caution when dealing with any concern from or about a staff member.
To be a good employer, your board's process must ensure confidentiality, adhere to the principles of natural justice, and comply with the staff member’s collective agreement requirements.
Ideally, your policy should state that any concern about a staff member's actions (including the principal) should be raised directly with that person.
Questions your board could ask
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Do we have a concerns and complaints policy (and procedures) in place?
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Do our board members, staff, students, and community know where to find this policy? How do we know?
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How do we support staff in dealing with concerns and complaints effectively?
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Do we have a concerns and complaints register? Is it being used?
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Is our principal regularly reporting on concerns and complaints data, trends, and patterns?
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Are there any trends in this data that our board may need to act on?
Templates, resources, and references
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Links from us
The Office of the Ombudsman