Social Media Age Limits, Conduct Outside School, Student Monitoring, Deep Fakes, Sexting and Other Online Offences
| Date | 19 November 2025 |
| Time | 12.00pm-2.45pm AEDT (Syd/Melb time) Each Session |
| Venue | Live Online with recording - recording access expires 19 December 2025 |
| Pricing | $275 Price includes gst. |
| Sector | Non-State Schools |
| CPD | Addresses 7.2 of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers |
| Other related LawSense Events |
Register
Program
12.00 LawSense Welcome
12.05 Opening Remarks
Dr Alec O’Connell, Headmaster, Scotch College
12.10 Student Social Media Update: Examining the Implications of Social Media Age Limits and Navigating Conduct Outside School and Student Monitoring
Examining the Extent of Your Duty of Care – Conduct “Outside” School
- Examining recent cases and scenarios and how the duty of care has evolved, including:
- what is the extent of a school’s responsibility for student conduct outside school
- when would a Court likely find that a school should have known about an issue or was on notice about it
- exploring, in practice, what steps a school should take when it is on notice of an issue
Student Supervision/Monitoring
- Exploring the boundaries of a school’s duty of care and obligations to monitor student online activity, including outside school hours
- Using monitoring software:
- what can you legally monitor and ensuring you have adequate consent
- to what extent should you have human monitoring/ escalation to humans?
- what is your legal exposure for an incident where a greater degree or availability of human monitoring could have prevented harm?
- what are your responsibilities to act where the information you collect indicates a student may be at risk, including when the information arrives outside school hours
Impacts of Social Media Aged Limits & Other Reforms
- Examining the new laws regarding age limits on social media use, including examining exceptions
- Exploring the implications of the new laws for schools:
- exploring impacts on the duty of care
- what action should you take if you suspect students are using social media in breach of the age limit?
- do the changes provide further rights or expectations for the school to search student devices or monitor social media use
- Updating school polices to deal with the changes in social media laws
David Scanlan, Senior Employment Lawyer – WA, Mapien Law; former Director of People & Culture, St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls
1.20 Break
1.30 Deep Fakes, Sexting and Other Online Offences: Examining School Obligations, Options and Investigations
Deep Fakes-Applicable Laws & Obligations
- Exploring how deep fakes have emerged in the school context, including “nudify” apps and other tools
- Examining the law relevant to deep fakes, including with AI generated explicit images
- Examining the obligations of the school where staff are the subject of deep fakes
Sexting and Other Online Offences
- Reviewing the legal frameworks for young offenders with online offences including sexting, and “sextortion” – reviewing key laws and recent updates
Responding to Deep Fakes & Sexting
- Understanding legal restrictions on the school copying, storing or sharing the offending explicit material, including deep fakes
- Exploring how schools should respond to material affecting students and teachers including:
- preservation of the images and collecting evidence such a screenshot, links, usernames
- reporting to agencies such as the eSafety Commissioner or police, including what information should be provided
- understanding the extent to which the school should conduct its own investigation
- obligations in managing wellbeing/psychosocial impacts
- Calibrating disciplinary responses by the school where police determine to take no action
Ben Tallboys, Principal, Russell Kennedy; Legal Counsel, Association of Heads of Independent Schools Australia
2.40 Closing Remarks from the Chair
2.45 Event Close
Presenters / panelists include:
 | David Scanlan is currently a Senior Employment Lawyer at Mapien Law heading up their WA office, having commenced in September 2025. He has just recently left the role as the Director of People & Culture at St Hilda’s, which he held since 2020. Prior to joining St Hilda’s, David worked in private practice as lawyer. |
 | Ben Tallboys provides sector-specific, practical legal solutions to schools across Australia. Ben is a passionate and effective advocate for principals dealing with complex matters relating to parents, staff and students, as well as their own employment. |