Upper School Dilemmas

[NJH]

On 04/09/2019 at 05:38, DancingtoDance said:

I meant to say I think 16 and 17 year olds should be treated as minors in regards to confidentiality unless government law suggests otherwise.

i do not think that sentence has the meaning you think it has ...

*cough* Gillick / Fraser  * cough * 

Edited September 5, 2019 by NJH

[oliviaT]

If a child / minor is assessed as Fraser (gillick) competent then yes they do have a right to make their own choices and expect their information to remain confidential. 

 

However it’s not as straight forward as that. 

 

I would worry about a school that simply refused to communicate with parents without even considering the child’s wishes (ie a blanket policy rather than looking at the individual). 

 

As a nurse working with teenagers I will often ask for permission to discuss an issue with a parent. More often than not the teenager is happy for this to happen. 

 

Fraser competency does not exclude the school from speaking to parents. It means that each student should be treated as an individual to consider what the student wishes to happen. 

Even over the age of 18 the student can give permission for information to be shared with their parents. It shouldn’t be completely black and white. 

[Karen]

We run a business providing training and qualifications. If an employer pays for a learner to be trained by us, the learner agrees (on a signed agreement) that we share their progress with the funder. 

 

Although my dd is over 18 and receiving a Dada,  we pay a significant amount towards her dance training. Information on her progress is shared with us, and I feel this is right. I don’t think she has signed an agreement to this effect, and perhaps she should, but I strongly believe we should be in the loop about how well she is doing (and if our money is being well spent!) 

 

If my dd wishes to discuss anything with her teachers or pastoral team which is not directly impacting on her dance training, that is a different matter. I I would hope that the institution would encourage her to share, or seek her agreement to share on her behalf if they felt it was significant. 

 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Karen
Edited for typo

[Crystaltips]

And it’s not just about confidentiality, important though that is. It’s about support and nurture, about duty of care. Some schools I could mention have strict no alcohol and no overnight guest policies but they are not enforced. A group of under 18s living in shared accommodation and left to their own devices will likely end up living in a complete mess as not all of them have the maturity to cope. Some 16 to 18 year olds do manage extremely well but when forced to share dirty accommodation and deal with classmates who are suffering from extreme homesickness and lashing out as a result it’s not at all easy. Add on to that the emotional and physical strain of a very demanding course and you the parent may find yourself on the receiving end of a very distressed phone call. At this point you may begin to harbour very uncharitable views towards the school who have allowed this situation to happen.