14Inspection of education premises

14 Inspection of education premises

14 Inspection of education premises

(1) An inspector—

(a) is at all reasonable times to have full and free access to any education premises and any documents that are on the premises, and

(b) may remove, or make copies of, any such document, and

(c) may conduct such audits and carry out such inspections on those premises as the inspector considers necessary.

(2) Any such power may be exercised by an inspector only—

(a) for the purposes of determining whether there has been compliance with or a contravention of the education and teaching legislation, or

(b) for the purposes of obtaining documents for purposes connected with the administration of the education and teaching legislation, or

(c) in connection with exercising the functions of an inspector under the education and teaching legislation.

(2A) Any power conferred on an inspector by this section may be exercised on or in relation to education premises without the inspector being required to give notice to any person or body before exercising that power.

(3) A person who hinders or obstructs an inspector in exercising any power conferred by this section is guilty of an offence.

Maximum penalty—5 penalty units.

(4) A person is not guilty of an offence under subsection (3) because of any act of hindrance or obstruction unless it is established that the inspector—

(a) identified himself or herself as an inspector, and

(b) warned the person that that act constituted an offence.

(5) This section does not affect any powers under any other provisions of the education and teaching legislation or under any other legislation.

Note—

For example, under section 24 of the Education Act 1990 an inspector may require the principal of a school to furnish a copy of the register of enrolments and attendances that is required to be kept under that section.

(6) In this section—

education premises means any of the following—