Conflicts of Interest
For conflicts of interest relating to financial decisions, see Financial Conflicts of Interest.
St Joseph's School is committed to fairness, transparency, and accountability in our actions and decisions. We recognise that a conflict of interest may occur when a person’s roles, duties, and responsibilities within the school could be influenced by their outside interests, obligations, or relationships. We accept that conflicts of interest cannot always be avoided and may occur without anyone being at fault.
We recognise that conflicts of interest can be:
- actual – a conflict already exists
- potential – a conflict will or could happen in the future
- perceived – a person outside the situation could reasonably interpret the situation as a conflict of interest.
We expect board members, staff, volunteers, third parties, and our school community to act in the best interests of the school, and to declare any situation where there could be a 
conflict of interest. We inform people of their responsibility to report conflicts of interest as part of our appointment, contracting, and induction processes, and in our codes of conduct, as relevant.
A conflict of interest may arise from:
- family, personal, or professional relationships (e.g. staff member has a child at school)
- interests or roles in other groups, organisations, trusts, or businesses (e.g. board member belongs to an external group that has a relationship with the school)
- acceptance of gifts or other benefits.
The school manages conflicts of interest to ensure:
- people have confidence in the decisions and actions of the school
- the integrity and reputations of staff and board members are protected
- the school meets legal requirements, regulations, and good practice
- no member of our community has an unfair advantage or disadvantage.
Identifying conflicts of interest
When a person identifies a conflict of interest, or is unsure if a conflict exists, they should raise this with the appropriate person as soon as possible.
The school expects:
- staff to raise conflicts of interest with the principal or an appropriate member of senior staff
- the principal and other board members to raise conflicts of interest with the board chair (the board chair raises conflicts of interest with the board)
- volunteers, third parties, and other members of the school community to raise conflicts of interest with a staff member appropriate to the situation, or the principal.
Managing conflicts of interest
The school assesses an identified conflict of interest to determine any risk and whether the conflict needs to be managed.
Our responses may include:
- authorising a person to continue with their current role and responsibilities
- changing a person's responsibilities
- implementing additional processes to ensure impartiality
- reporting conflicts of interest to the board
- excluding a person from any meeting, discussion, or vote that relates to the conflict
- restricting a person's access to information relating to the conflict
- explaining to relevant people how we are managing a conflict of interest
- documenting and monitoring the conflict and our response.
We may seek external advice as required (e.g. lawyer, employment advisor, NZSBA).
We document conflicts of interest and any actions taken. Staff and board members receiving information about conflicts of interest follow all privacy requirements. See Privacy Policy.
Anyone concerned that a conflict of interest has not been declared or managed appropriately may raise a concern. See Concerns and Complaints Policy.
Related policies
Legislation
- Education and Training Act 2020
- Education (School boards) Regulations 2020
- Public Service Act 2020
Resources
: Term 4 2023
The release history is a record of changes made to a SchoolDocs Core topic as the result of an internal or scheduled review. The date indicates when a change was made. If you have a customised topic, it may not have received the updates described. Release history links are kept for five years, then archived.
