Experts Draft Guidelines for Japanese Version of DBS
Japanese expert team on Monday (December 22) released draft guidelines for planned Japanese version of Britain's Disclosure and Barring Service to check sexual offence records of teachers and others whose work involves contact with children.
- The draft guidelines mandate criminal record checks for employees at schools and children's homes, while allowing voluntary checks for businesses like cram schools and sports clubs.
- Individuals with a criminal record of sexual offenses will either not be hired or will be reassigned to roles that do not involve contact with children.
- The guidelines define "inappropriate acts" that could lead to abuse, such as meeting a child alone or unnecessary physical contact, and urge businesses to create clear rules against them.
- While occupations like teachers will be uniformly subject to checks, decisions for other roles, such as administrative staff or bus drivers, will be based on their level of potential interaction with children.
The draft, written by the expert team under the Children and Families Agency, sets out the scope of businesses and job types that will be subject to criminal record checks.
Even outside this, "juku" cram schools with three or more employees would be able to check their workers or job applicants through the DBS system voluntarily.
The draft also identifies "inappropriate acts" that could lead to sexual violence, such as a meeting with a child or a student alone on a holiday.
The agency hopes to raise awareness of inappropriate behaviour that could happen at schools or in other situations.
The Japanese version of DBS will allow business operators to use information from family registers to obtain from the Justice Ministry information about whether current or prospective employees have sexual offence records.
They will not be hired or will be reassigned to roles that do not involve contact with children if any such criminal record is found.
The law on the prevention of sexual violence against children, which includes the creation of the Japanese DBS system, is set to come into force on December 25.
The agency will make an official decision on the guidelines after referring the draft to a council of related government agencies.
Under the law, elementary, junior high and senior high schools, kindergartens, certified nursery schools meeting state standards and children's homes will be obliged to confirm criminal records of their current or prospective workers.
The guidelines will also allow cram schools, sports clubs, after-school care services and nursery schools other than those meeting state criteria to voluntarily check criminal records if the operators have three or more workers whose work involves contact with children.
Businesses using the DBS system would receive certification, indicating a certain level of safety.
Occupations such as teachers and nursery teachers will be uniformly subject to criminal record checks.
In contrast, decisions on whether to carry out checks for administrative staff at schools and cram schools, pickup bus drivers and educational trainees will be based on specific circumstances, such as their potential for continuous interaction with children.
Checks with the DBS system will also be allowed for those taking up spot casual jobs during their free time, if they meet preset requirements.
Examples of inappropriate behaviour in the draft include meeting children alone, exchanging contact information, taking pictures with personal smartphones and unnecessary physical contact, such as hugs.
The guidelines will urge business operators to discuss what constitutes inappropriate behaviour in their operations and write clear rules in their work regulations.
The draft also outlines how to respond to suspected cases.
"It was our earnest wish to prevent people with criminal records from getting jobs related to children," Japan Juku Association executive Hiroyuki Tsuneishi said.
"We want to raise the safety of private and public education in parallel."
The association plans to encourage companies in and outside the industry to obtain certification and ask the government to expand the scope of certification to smaller businesses with fewer than three employees.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
