Complaints and Appeals Policy

Who can complain, and about what

You can use this policy if you're a current, former or prospective student. A parent or guardian can complain on behalf of a student under 18. Anyone else can complain for you with your permission. Employers and other organisations that book training with us can use it too.

You can complain about anything to do with your training or our services, including:

• the quality of training, assessment, support or learning resources
• how a trainer, assessor or other staff member treated you
• enrolment, fees, certificates or other administration
• a contractor, or a third party that delivers or supports training for us, such as a clinic that hosts echocardiography clinical training
• another student's behaviour
• discrimination, harassment or victimisation

If you complain to a third party that works with us, it must pass your complaint on to us. We'll deal with it under this policy.

Complaints about how we handle your personal or health information go to our Privacy Officer and follow our Privacy Policy. Concerns about a child's safety take a faster route. See "If you're under 18" below.

Giving feedback

You can give us feedback at any time by email or phone, or in the evaluation form we ask you to complete at the end of your course. You can give feedback anonymously if you prefer. We review it like any other feedback, but we can't reply.

Decisions you can appeal

An appeal is a request for us to review a decision. You can appeal any decision that adversely affects you, whether we, one of our staff or a third party working for us made it. This includes decisions about:

• an assessment result, such as "not yet competent"
• recognition of prior learning (RPL), where we assess skills you already have, or credit transfer, where we recognise a unit you've already completed with another registered training organisation (see our RPL and Credit Transfer Policy)
• academic misconduct, including the finding and any outcome that followed it (see our Academic Integrity and Misconduct Policy)
• entry to or progression in an echocardiography course, including whether we accept training you've done elsewhere
• suspending or cancelling your enrolment
• refusing a reasonable adjustment you asked for (a change that lets a student with a disability take part on the same basis as other students)
• a refund (see our Fees, Payments and Refunds Policy)

Sorting things out informally

Many problems can be fixed by talking to your trainer or the Student Support team. You can try that first, but you don't have to: you can make a formal complaint or appeal straight away. Trying the informal route first doesn't affect your right to make a formal complaint or appeal later, but any appeal must still be lodged within the time limit.

How to make a complaint or appeal

Contact us in whichever way suits you. There's no charge.

• Online: use our complaints and appeals form
• Email: admin@scopeinstitute.edu.au, with "Complaint" or "Appeal" in the subject line
• Phone: 1300 508 809, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm (Melbourne time)
• In person: at our office, Unit 1, 202 Jells Road, Wheelers Hill VIC 3150, during office hours
• Post: PO Box 3533, Wheelers Hill VIC 3150

You can also tell any staff member, who will pass it to the Administration Manager. If you tell us by phone or in person, we'll write it down and check with you that we've got it right. If your complaint is about the Administration Manager, address it to our Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

It helps if you tell us:

• your name and contact details
• what happened, or which decision you're appealing, and when
• the outcome you're looking for
• any evidence you have, such as emails, photos or assessment feedback

If you can't give us all of this, the Student Support team can help you put it together.

Time limits

You can make a complaint at any time. An appeal must be lodged within 20 business days of the day you were told the decision. If something stops you appealing in time, contact us and explain why. We may accept a late appeal if there's a good reason.

Business days are Monday to Friday, excluding Victorian public holidays.

What happens after you complain

1. We acknowledge your complaint in writing within 5 business days of receiving it.
2. The Administration Manager looks into it. That usually means reading the relevant documents, talking to you and anyone else involved, and gathering other evidence. Anyone your complaint is about is told about it and can respond.
3. We write to you with the outcome, the reasons for it and anything we'll do as a result. We aim to do this within 20 business days of receiving your complaint.
4. If it will take longer, we'll tell you in writing why, give you a new expected date and update you at least every 10 business days until it's resolved.
5. You can ask the CEO to review the outcome. Ask within 20 business days of being told the outcome. The review follows the same steps and timeframes as an appeal.
6. After the CEO's review, you can ask for an independent review.

If the Administration Manager is involved or has a conflict of interest, the CEO investigates and decides your complaint instead. Step 5 then doesn't apply: if you're not satisfied with the CEO's decision, you can ask for an independent review.

What happens after you appeal

1. We acknowledge your appeal in writing within 5 business days of receiving it.
2. The CEO decides the appeal. The person who decides an appeal must not have been involved in the original decision.
3. If you're appealing an assessment result, a different assessor who was not involved in the original assessment reviews your assessment first and may reassess you. The CEO takes that review into account.
4. We write to you with the decision and the reasons. We aim to do this within 20 business days of receiving your appeal. If it will take longer, we'll tell you in writing why, give you a new expected date and update you at least every 10 business days.
5. You can then ask for an independent review.

Independent review

If you're not satisfied with our final internal decision on a complaint or appeal, you can ask for an independent review within 20 business days of that decision.

We'll arrange a reviewer who is independent of Scope Institute and the Scope Healthcare group, such as an assessor from another registered training organisation or an independent consultant. The review is at no cost to you. We'll give the reviewer the information they need and cooperate fully. We will act on the reviewer's findings.

Asking for an independent review doesn't stop you contacting the outside bodies listed below.

How we keep the process fair

• Before we decide, you'll be told about the information we're relying on and have a chance to respond. Anyone your complaint is about gets the same chance.
• No one who was involved in the matter, or who has a conflict of interest, will investigate or decide it. If a complaint or appeal involves the CEO, we'll ask an independent person outside Scope Institute and the Scope Healthcare group to handle it, at no cost to you.
• We share information about your complaint or appeal only with the people who need it to deal with the matter, or where the law requires us to share it, for example to protect a child.
• You will not be penalised or disadvantaged in your studies for making a complaint or appeal in good faith.

Help and support

• The Student Support team can explain the process and help you write down your complaint or appeal.
• You can have a support person, such as a friend, family member or counsellor, with you at any stage, including at meetings. They can support you, but cannot act as your legal representative in our internal process.
• If you need an interpreter, tell us and we'll help arrange one.
• We can give you this policy and our letters in another format, such as large print. If you have a disability and need an adjustment to take part, tell us what would help.

If you're under 18

Our first aid and CPR courses are open to students aged 14 and over, so some of our students are under 18. If that's you, you can raise a problem or a worry with any trainer or staff member you trust, or call or email us. A parent, guardian or another adult you trust can also contact us for you.

Tell us if anyone has harmed or abused you, or made you feel unsafe or uncomfortable. That includes a trainer, a staff member or another student, in person or online. You will not get into trouble for telling us.

We act on concerns about a child's safety immediately. Our Child Safety Officer, who is our Chief Clinical Educator, receives these concerns. If a child may be at risk of harm, or a crime may have been committed, we report it to the police and other authorities, such as Child Protection, and we cooperate with police. We'll keep you informed, and your parent or guardian too where that's appropriate.

If you or another young person is in danger right now, call 000.

Other complaints, such as a problem with your course, follow the usual steps and timeframes in this policy. We follow the Victorian Child Safe Standards. Our Child Safety page explains how we keep children safe and respond to concerns.

Discrimination, harassment and victimisation

We don't tolerate discrimination or harassment. If you've been discriminated against, harassed or victimised, including because of a disability, you can complain to us under this policy. Victimisation means being treated badly because you made a complaint or supported someone else's.

This covers behaviour by our staff, trainers, contractors and other students, and by people at a clinic during echocardiography clinical training. If you'd rather not raise it with your trainer, contact the Administration Manager. If you're under 18, we treat it as a child safety concern and act straight away (see 'If you're under 18').

You can also complain directly to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission or the Australian Human Rights Commission. Their details are below.

Outside bodies you can contact

You can also take a complaint to an outside body. Most will expect you to have tried our process first. Ask each body about any costs before you lodge a complaint.

Nationally recognised training only (first aid and CPR)

• National Training Complaints Hotline: 13 38 73 or dewr.gov.au. The hotline refers your complaint to the right organisation. It doesn't investigate complaints or advocate for you.
• Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), the national regulator for nationally recognised training: 1300 644 844 or asqa.gov.au. ASQA cannot resolve individual disputes between students and training providers, and it doesn't usually tell you the outcome of a report. It uses reports to inform how it regulates training providers.

ASQA doesn't regulate our echocardiography courses, because they're not nationally recognised training.

All students

• Consumer Affairs Victoria, for refunds, cancellations and other consumer rights: 1300 55 81 81 or consumer.vic.gov.au
• Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), for disputes about goods and services: 1300 018 228 or vcat.vic.gov.au
• Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, for privacy complaints once you've complained to us: 1300 363 992 or oaic.gov.au
• Health Complaints Commissioner, for how we handle your health information: 1300 582 113 or hcc.vic.gov.au
• Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, for discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation: 1300 292 153 or humanrights.vic.gov.au
• Australian Human Rights Commission, for disability and other discrimination: 1300 656 419 or humanrights.gov.au

Child safety

You don't have to come to us first with a concern about a child's safety.

• Emergency or immediate danger: call 000
• Victoria Police: to report child abuse that isn't an emergency, contact your local police station. See Report child abuse.
• Child Protection, 8.45am to 5pm Monday to Friday: call the number for the area where the child lives. North 1300 598 521, South 1300 555 526, East 1300 360 452, West 1300 360 462. Find the right area.
• Child Protection at other times: the After Hours Child Protection Emergency Service on 13 12 78.
• Social Services Regulator, if you're worried we're not meeting the Child Safe Standards: 1300 310 778 or childsafeorgs@ssr.vic.gov.au. See Report your concerns under the Child Safe Standards.

Outcomes and records

We give you every outcome in writing, with the reasons. We also tell anyone else involved, such as a staff member your complaint was about, the outcome as it affects them.

We keep a record of every formal complaint and appeal: what was raised, the steps we took, the outcome and the reasons. Records are stored securely, separate from your academic records, and kept for 7 years after the matter closes. Records about a concern for a child's safety are kept for at least 45 years, as our Child Safety page explains. Only people who need them can see them. We handle them under our Privacy Policy.

How we use complaints to improve

We look at each complaint and appeal to find what caused the problem, and across all of them for patterns. We use what we find to improve our training, assessment and services.