– I think it is strange that you can have a police certificate almost for life, says Rachel Johansen, principal at Hegra junior high school in Stjørdal. Police certificates, also called criminal records, are intended to protect pupils in Norwegian schools against abusers. Rachel Johansen, principal at Hegra junior high school in Stjørdal. Photo: Ane-Idun Voll Today, no one can be appointed to the school without having submitted such a certificate. Once a person has been appointed, the headmaster cannot ask for the certificate to be renewed, as long as the person works in the same position. news has asked the principals at primary schools in the country about how they think the system works. Half of those who answered would like a system where police certificates are regularly renewed. – As headmaster, I don’t feel confident that I will know about it if someone employed here at the school is guilty of an offense that would end up on a police report, says Rachel Johansen, and claims: – I think that as an employer I should know already in that one is suspected of something. Especially in matters of sexual conduct, but also when it comes to, for example, drugs and violence. In such cases, I think the safety of the children should come before the privacy of the employees. Too long to wait There is an exception to the rule: If there is suspicion that an employee has committed an offence, the headmaster can ask for a new certificate. It’s not good enough, thinks principal Lars Ottar Svensen at Føynland school in Færder Principal Lars Ottar Svensen at Føynland school Photo: Kristi Katrine Abusdal – I have worked here since 2011 and have never been asked to deliver a new certificate. As a principal, I would feel safer if I could renew the certificates of my employees at regular intervals without necessarily having to suspect anything wrong. On weekdays, however, it is primarily around on-call substitutes that Svensen thinks the system does not work well enough. – We often need them on the day, but often we have to wait up to a couple of weeks for the police certificate to arrive. It should be possible to automate this more. For example, have someone in the municipality who is trusted to be able to enter a system and check on the day. Half a million certificates Around 500,000 applications for police certificates are processed every quarter. It takes place at the Police’s unit for behavior control and police certificates in Vardø. – The way the legislation is today, it is not possible to have a system where the employer can log in and check information about an employee, says section leader Alexander Gulliksen Johansen. Photo: Patrick da Silva Sæther / news He explains that police certificates are in fact an exception to the duty of secrecy. Therefore, the certificate must be valid, even ask for him and accept him, so that the person concerned can decide for himself whether he or she wants to show her to others. According to Gulliksen Johansen, renewal of police certificates is always possible. It is up to the legislators to decide. – We carry out the tasks we are assigned, but today we have 28 employees and 25 of us work with processing police certificates. Each employee processes an average of 20,000 certificates a year. If we are to treat more people, our capacity must be increased accordingly. Of the 500,000 certificates that are issued each year, around 60,000 are linked to schools, Alexander Gulliksen Johansen says. He understands that a processing time of up to 14 days can be a long time for a school that needs a substitute quickly. – We always work to make our processes more efficient, but with the legislation we have, parts of the work must be done manually. In order to safeguard privacy and legal certainty for the applicants, the police are forced to make individual assessments in each case. Looking at the scheme The Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness states that they have started work to assess what changes should be made to the system around police certificates. – One of the things we are looking at is precisely whether there should be a system for renewing certificates, says State Secretary Sigve Bolstad. Sigve Bolstad is state secretary in the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness. Photo: Hallgeir Braastad / news He urges principals to have a low threshold for using the option that already exists in the current system, namely to request a renewal of the driver’s license if they suspect that something is wrong. – The possibility exists and it is important that the schools use it. A police certificate will always be a snapshot of registered information and can never provide any guarantee against unwanted events in the future, says Sigve Bolstad. State Secretary Synnøve Mjeldheim Skaar in the Ministry of Education is concerned that the police certificates must not become a comforting pillow. State Secretary Synnøve Mjeldheim Skaar in the Ministry of Education is asking schools to be vigilant even if employees have submitted a police certificate. Photo: Kristine Urke Johansen / news – Schools must be vigilant and ensure good routines to follow up on danger signals or incidents involving employees. She understands that it can be difficult to raise concerns that a colleague has been guilty of abuse. – That’s why a court manager has been created to support leaders in the school in how they follow up on a concern, says Synnøve Mjeldheim Skaar. From the survey: “There are probably hidden figures in Norway, related to employees who would have received comments in the police certificate in the event of new attestation. Therefore, it is perhaps a good idea to have to get a new certificate, e.g. every five years, even if this entails a lot of bureaucracy.” From the survey: “Obtaining a police certificate is cumbersome. Should have been a digital system/database” From the survey: “There is no requirement to present a police certificate from a stay abroad. When we employ foreign teachers who have just arrived in Norway from abroad, the Norwegian police certificate has no value because it only contains information about offenses in Norway.” From the survey: “I generally want a shorter processing time for police certificates. It reduces the risk of someone being put to work before the police certificate is in place.” From the survey: “I would like it to become clear in a simpler way what the police check out when they give a certificate and say that this person is OK. There are many paragraphs listed, but it is a little discouraging to go through all of them to check whether this or that relationship has been checked out in terms of a certificate.” news’s headmaster’s survey news has sent questions to headmasters/headmasters at all Norwegian primary schools (child and youth level). We have asked questions about the recruitment of staff for the school and the use of police certificates in that regard. 48.8 per cent answered that they want a system with regular renewal of police certificates. 19.7 per cent answered no, and 31.5 per cent “don’t know”. 4.9 per cent stated that they had experienced that someone they wanted to employ at your school had comments on their police certificate. 2.9 per cent stated that they had refused a planned appointment because of a police certificate received. The police have an opportunity to contact the school about new criminal offenses involving employees at the school. 3 percent of the head teachers answered that they had experienced being contacted by the police. 2,657 primary school principals were asked. 740 have replied. The response rate is 28%. The survey is not representative, but gives a picture of what many principals think. The distribution of responses for school type and geography corresponds to the composition in the country. The survey was sent out by e-mail via Questback in the period 12–22 March 2024. Source: news Research center Published 30 August 2024, at 17.47
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Rectors want a better system for police certificates – news Dokumentar
