Page 22 - OSCA Ethical Guidelines - 2009.pdf

Section C
Board, a Guidance Head approaches her Principal and requests permission to use the template provided from the Ministry of Education in order to conduct the Program Effectiveness Survey for her school’s guidance and career education program.
b) A Program Effectiveness Survey, conducted in a Secondary School, is reviewed by the school’s guidance and career education program advisory team. The results are reported to students, parents, staff and the school council. The results will directly influence the planning and future delivery of the guidance and career education program.
Confidentiality
1. Counsellors shall inform students as early in the relationship as possible of any limits to the confidential nature of the information shared.
2. The reporting of child abuse and neglect will be done in compliance with each Board’s established protocol and within the expectations of the Child and Family Services Amendment Act.
3. Students who are at risk for imminent self-harm may need to have a mental health assessment and information may need to be shared without their consent.
4. A counsellor who possesses information about a student who poses a physical threat to another person may also need to act without the consent of the student.
5. The Youth Criminal Justice Act provides that no person shall publish any report of an offence or an alleged offense committed by a young person, which names or, in any way, identifies the young person charged, the victims
or the witnesses to the alleged offense. The prohibition covers reports of both the actual offence and any hearing, adjudication, disposition, or appeal under the Act. The word “publish” should be interpreted broadly. While persons charged with this offence have, in the past, been in the
field of journalism, it would be an offence for counsellors
to divulge information relating to a charge to such persons as prospective employers. Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, consent of the young person involved is irrelevant. One must simply not communicate information which names or in any way identifies the young person charged, the victims, or witnesses until a case is over, the youth is given an adult sentence and the parents’ consent.
6. Counsellors appear to have the authority to authorize the transmission of confidential demographic data to the College and University application centres, long
Unacceptable Case
A Guidance Head chooses to delay conducting the Program- Effectiveness Survey for his department for fear that the results will be reported to the Ministry of Education.
Legally Speaking
A counsellor’s responsibility to facilitate the ongoing review and evaluation of the school’s guidance and career education program plan is unlikely to result in legal action against the counsellor, but there are potential employment issues if the counsellor is considered to be incompetent in this respect.
22 ■ OSCA Ethical Guidelines for Ontario School Counsellors 2010 • www.osca.ca
before students actually make the decision to submit an application, with the express understanding that once applications are submitted, the relevant data of all non-applicants will be deleted from the system(s).
In the introduction to the Application Guide, the Ontario University Application Centre makes a clear statement regarding the use of data:
“The student by making formal application is allowing
the Application Centre and the Universities to access the demographic and academic information during the application year.”
Counsellors are urged to follow their individual Board’s protocols regarding this issue.
Legally Speaking
As noted, for students covered by the Youth Criminal Justice Act, it is an offence to publish by any means a report of an offence committed or alleged to have been committed by a young person in which the name of the young person, victims or witnesses are disclosed. For students not covered by the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the potential legal consequences of a counsellor’s failure to maintain confidentiality would be civil actions based on charges of libel or slander. Of course, disciplinary actions by District School Boards may be taken as well.
Information conveyed by counsellees during counselling
may only attract a qualified privilege in any court of law. If counsellors are asked to testify about information which they feel strongly should be kept confidential, they can appeal
to the judge to do so. If the judge considers the information crucial, counsellors might ask for the courtroom to be cleared while testimony is given. The judge will weigh the importance of maintaining the integrity of the counselling relationship versus the requirement to properly protect society.