International Journal of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences Studies Volume 5 Issue 2 ǁ February 2020 ISSN: 2582-1601 www.ijahss.com International Journal of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences Studies V 5 ● I 2 ● 47 Australian School Teachers And The Law: An Ethnographic Examination Of Whether Teachers Require Knowledge Of The Law In Order To Perform Their Professional Duties? DR DAVID NEWLYN School of Law, Western Sydney University, Australia Abstract : School teaching is one of the most rewarding professions in that it gives its members an opportunity to make an impact on future generations. It is the one profession which makes all other professions possible. School teachers undertake an inherently difficult and complex task which is of great importance to society. But school teaching is a complex profession that requires individuals to have not only sufficient knowledge of the areas in which they teach but also the ability to content with complex external pressures and regulations. School teachers work in an area which is heavily regulated by both common and statute law. But do school teachers require an extensive or even a basic knowledge of the law in order to undertake their professional activities? Literature has revealed a concern both within Australia and internationally regarding the level of legal knowledge held by members of the teaching profession. Concomitant with this is whether there is a need or a use for teachers to have any degree of knowledge of the law in order to perform their professional duties. Within the Australian context, this paper examines the views of teachers, the largest employer and a union body in order to examine whether teachers do require a knowledge of the law in order to undertake their professional duties. Keywords: Legal Education for School Teachers, Professionals, Schools, Teachers, Professional Responsibilities, Law, Legal Education I. INTRODUCTION School teachers are curriculum specialists, lesson preparers, leaders, role models, community representatives, confidants, mediators, nurses, judges, bureaucrats, psychiatrists, career advisors, agents of social change, motivators, counsellors, defacto parents, carers, police officers and lawyers. This highlighted description provides a somewhat felicitous starting point for this paper. In this statement it is both explicit and implicit that the role of a modern school teacher is complex and diverse. Certainly there is an increasing expectation that it is not simply the role of a modern teacher singularly to deliver content. The role of a modern teacher has become much more complex than simply delivering specified curriculum content. Teachers undertake important, complex and diverse roles. Teachers provide students with purpose, set students up for success as citizens in society and inspire in them a drive to do well and succeed in life. As it may relate to one of the roles of a school teacher, established literature reveals a general growing concern with the limited level of legal knowledge held by school teachers.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] In separate publications Sungaila[9], Ramsay[10], Rossow[11] and Williams[12] note that the law is continually playing an increasing role in the everyday professional lives of teachers. Williams could not put it more succinctly when he states that the law is: …playing an increasingly active role in education….and the momentum is unlikely to stop.[13] So there exists a concern about the increasing legalisation of the field of education as this relates to the role of the school teacher.[14][15][16][17] Whilst there exists an extensive array of literature in the field of the legalisation of education this literature almost universally presupposes that teachers already have the relevant knowledge or that there is an implicit need for the knowledge to be held by teachers. What this literature seems