This section contains information on:

• Acceptance of enrolments
• Complaint and Grievance procedures
• Referencing and bibliographies

See Also:

• Assessment Policy
• Guidelines for the use of inclusive language

Acceptance of enrolments

Where a student does not make satisfactory progress, the College reserves the right to refuse further enrolment.

Complaint and grievance procedures

Coolamon College aims to provide an effective and acceptable means for students, staff, faculty members, volunteers and committee members to bring problems and complaints concerning their work or study programs and their well-being in the context of work or study programs to the attention of the management of Coolamon College. For that reason, a formal grievance procedure has been established for the benefit and use of students, staff, faculty members, volunteers and committee members.

Employment Awards (where applicable) contain Grievance Procedures that must be followed in the event of a dispute arising between our Organisation and an employee/s. It is essential that before a disputed matter goes to Arbitration it be pursued by way of the appropriate Grievance Procedure.

1 Definition of 'grievance'

Students
A grievance is any condition of a study program that the student feels is unjust or unfair, or thinks should be brought to the attention of College management. To assure prompt attention, grievances should be submitted within ten working days of the event prompting the grievance. Where the grievance is made in relation to assessment, the assessment appeals procedure takes precedence to these complaint and grievance procedures.

Staff
A grievance is any condition of employment that the employee feels is unjust or unfair, or thinks should be brought to the attention of College management. To assure prompt attention, grievances should be submitted within five working days of the event prompting the grievance.

Faculty members/Volunteers/Committee Members
A grievance is any condition of a work program that the faculty member, volunteer or committee member feels is unjust or unfair, or thinks should be brought to the attention of College management. To assure prompt attention, grievances should be submitted within five working days of the event prompting the grievance.

2 Procedure

This procedure applies to:

(a) administrative decisions within the College affecting an individual; and
(b) behaviour of another student, staff person, faculty member, volunteer or committee member within the College environment towards the aggrieved person.

Stage One: Any grievance must be submitted in writing to the Principal of Coolamon College by the aggrieved person.

The Principal (or the Principal's nominee) will acknowledge receipt of the grievance within 5 working days of receipt of the grievance.

The Principal (or the Principal's nominee) will seek to clarify the outcome that the aggrieved person hopes to achieve by submitting the grievance. When this clarification happens in a face-to-face interview with the aggrieved person, the aggrieved person may ask another person to accompany them.

The Principal (or the Principal's nominee) will seek to resolve the grievance, reporting in writing to the aggrieved person on the steps taken to address the grievance within 5 working days of the clarification of outcomes.

Stage Two: If the grievance remains unresolved, a third party or parties may be appointed to consult with the aggrieved person and other relevant parties. Where possible these consultations should happen in face-to-face interviews. The aggrieved person may ask another person to accompany them at a face-to-face interview.

A report on the outcomes of the consultation(s) will be made available to the Principal who will further seek to resolve the grievance, reporting in writing to the aggrieved person within 5 working days of the receipt of the report of the third party or parties on the further steps taken to address the grievance.

Stage Three: If the grievance is still unresolved, the Principal will advise the Chairperson of the Coolamon College Reference Committee and the Associate General Secretary of the National Assembly of the Uniting Church, of which the College is an agency.

The aggrieved person may submit the matter in writing to the Associate General Secretary if the aggrieved person wishes to pursue the matter further.

The Associate General Secretary shall ensure that:
(a) the aggrieved person has the opportunity to present all aspects of the grievance; and
(b) the grievance shall be investigated in a thorough, fair and impartial manner.

The Associate General Secretary may appoint another person to investigate the grievance. The appointed person shall not be a staff person, faculty member or committee member of the College.

The Associate General Secretary shall advise the aggrieved person and any other parties directly concerned by the grievance of the determinations made as a result of the investigation of the grievance.

The Associate General Secretary may delegate such Associate General Secretary's grievance resolution powers under this clause to a nominated representative.

3 Timeliness

The procedure is to be completed in a timely manner, given the constraints of distance, travel and mail services, and the location of appropriate third parties. Ideally, the following time frames should operate:

Stage 1 Reporting of action taken to the aggrieved person within 20 working days of the receipt of the complaint in the Coolamon College office.
Stage 2 Reporting of action taken to the aggrieved person within 20 working days of the appointment of a third party.
Stage 3 Reporting of action taken to concerned parties within 20 working days of the submission of the matter to the Associate General Secretary.

4 Without Prejudice

Subject to relevant legislation where applicable, while the grievance procedure is being followed, normal work is to continue, except in the case of a genuine safety issue. The status quo existing before the emergence of a grievance or dispute is to continue whilst the procedure is being followed. No party shall be prejudiced as to the final settlement by the continuation of work.

Referencing and bibliographies

Students are expected to provide accurate references to books, articles and other reference materials that are quoted or paraphrased. A consistent system must be used.

There are several systems currently in use. Coolamon College recommends the note-bibliography system as outlined in Lawrence D. MacIntosh, A style manual for the presentation of papers and theses in religion and theology.

The Style manual for authors, editors and printers published by the Australian Government Publishing Service is also a useful resource. It is available in many libraries, or it may be purchased from an Australian Government bookshop.

It is vital that all published material alluded to, whether directly quoted or paraphrased, be fully documented. (Note well: Material available on the internet is "published material" and must be appropriately acknowledged.) Failure to do so may incur a charge of plagiarism (see "Assessment policy").