What is meant by the expression duty of care and what are the conditions for the duty of care?

The expression duty of care means that a duty or a legal obligation of a person/organisation to
satisfactorily perform a task by avoiding the acts, which can be reasonably foreseen, to cause harm to
others.
As members of community we all owe a duty of care to each other, and that means that we should not do
anything that would harm somebody else, but as regular citizens, there is no compulsion on us to go to the
aid of another person. However, when someone is in a position of responsibility for another person, then
the person responsible owes a duty of care to the other person under his/her responsibility.
In the context of schools, teachers are in a position of responsibility for students, because they are older,
wiser, more experienced, knowledgeable and aware of potential dangers to students. The duty of care is
said to exist for teachers provided the following questions are answered affirmatively.
1.
2.
3.

Does the formal pupil-teacher relationship exist?

Is the teacher exercising authority and control over the student?
Is the student under the control of the teacher

In addition to the above stated conditions duty of care is dependent on various factors that need to be
considered. These factors relate to:

Student Age: The younger the student, the greater the duty of care.
Student learning capacity: If the student has a low capacity of learning, then the student may
require higher duty of care than a brighter student.
Student disability: Students with disabilities need higher duty of care than normal able students.
Hazardous zones: Students working in potentially hazardous areas such as science laboratories
with chemicals, burners and equipment, where risks of injury are higher, require higher duty of
care.
Sports and excursions: Students involved in outdoor field sports and excursions that involve
risks of potential injury require higher duty of care.
Student behaviour: Students with a reputation for being reliable, trustworthy, sensible will
require lower duty of care than students who are disobedient, ill disciplined and display bad
behaviour.

The law expects teachers to act better than a good parent. Therefore, it is very important for teachers to
think carefully before asking students to perform activities that may unnecessarily put them at potential risk
and cause intellectual, emotional, mental or physical injury or harm.
A good teacher is expected to foresee the potential hazardous situation that would cause harm to the
student. Teachers need to step back before asking students to do things, and ask themselves whether the
task is safe for the student to perform. Teachers need to think about the consequences of acting or not
acting. Teachers are expected to intervene, if they see students engaged in potential hazardous behaviour
such as climbing a fence, fighting with sticks or having a boxing match.
What is negligence? What are the implications for your practice as a teacher from these
understandings?
Negligence is a failure to take reasonable care to avoid causing injury or loss to another person. Negligence
is considered a civil wrong and what this means is that it's an action against an individual or individuals,
through which damages can be sought in a civil court. Usually, in negligence cases, there is no criminal
sentence or imprisonment involved.

The test of negligence rests upon three elements being satisfied.

1.

2.

3.

The first element in negligence is that a duty of care existed. Therefore, primarily it must
satisfy:
(a) whether there was a duty of care, between the teacher and the
student,
(b) was there an official or formal pupilteacher relationship,
(c) whether the
student was under the control of the teacher.
The second element in negligence is that there was a breach of the duty of care. In other words,
the teacher did not act reasonably or as expected from the usual behaviour, of a professional
teacher.
The third element that needs to be established is injury or damage resulted. There may have been
a duty of care, there may have been a breach of the duty of care, but there may not have been
injury or damage.

Additionally to establish the case of negligence there are couple of things that need to be considered.
Firstly, whether there was reasonable foreseeability of injury or damage taking place. Secondly, whether
there was a causal link between the injury and the breach of duty of care.
To prevent the act of negligence teachers must perform the following acts diligently and effectively.

Classroom supervision: Since most of the student teacher interaction takes place in the classroom
the teacher must have very clear expectation of behaviour in the classroom. The school rules must
be clearly communicated on a regular basis to the students and diligently implemented.
Professional discipline: The teachers are expected to effectively manage their time in the
classroom by arriving and leaving at the scheduled time. They must ensure that if they have to
leave the class for some unavoidable personal reasons then the students should receive clear
instructions of maintaining behavioral discipline. In addition, delegating the supervision authority
and responsibility to another teacher in the adjoining class.
Precise student directions: Teachers must ensure that students precisely understand what
teachers want them to do or not do in the classroom, laboratories within school premises as well as
on sports fields and outdoor excursions.
Safe and clean environment: Ensure classrooms, halls, laboratories and workshops are safe,
clean and clear of all potential hazards to the students.
Safety procedures: Teachers should carefully study, understand and meticulously follow all
safety procedures related to operating laboratory equipment, electrical gadgets and use of chemical
compositions in the students working space.
Preventive intervention: Teachers must timely intervene to ensure prevention of injury or harm
to the student. The teacher must anticipate occurrence of a potential hazardous or dangerous
situation and proactively act to diffuse the situation.
Prevent Intellectual harm: Teachers must ensure adequately teaching the curriculum, treating
and evaluating students fairly based on their learning abilities.