VicTESOL Policies
eBulletin Advertising Policy
Whilst VicTESOL would not actively seek advertisers or researchers, at times organisations may wish to promote their services/activities/surveys to our members. VicTESOL needs to ensure that information provide to our members is in line with the focus of our organisation.
Aims
- To provide relevant information to our members a which has an EAL or multicultural education focus.
- To ensure that any advertisement/survey is not seen as being endorsed by VicTESOL but that individual members will need to exercise diligence.
- To ensure that there is a smooth process for the inclusion or non-inclusion of advertising material or research survey invitations that are not generated by VicTESOL.
Implementation
A decision of which advertisements are considered to be of interest to our members will be made by the Communications sub-committee. In the event of a split decision the convenor of this committee will have a casting decision. In circumstances where a timely decision is unable to be made by the Communications sub-committee, usually due to timeline restraints then the VicTESOL President would be called on to make a decision.
The inclusion of an advertisement in the VicTESOL eBulletin will incur a payment. This payment will be $50 per advertisement. Advertisements can be text only, 100 words maximum. Additional information may be provided via a web link.
The advertisement should be sent to our publishers in a complete format which is then able to be directly inserted into the appropriate section of the eBulletin.
A disclaimer will be inserted into the eBulletin acknowledging that VicTESOL does not endorse nor support any of the advertisements which may be included.
Below is an example of the disclaimer:
Advertisement Disclaimer Statement
We neither represent nor endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advertisement on our website or eBulletin or the quality of any products, information, activity or other materials displayed, purchased, or obtained by you as a result of an offer in connection with any of these advertisements.
We strongly encourage you to do your own due diligence before responding to any offer.
eBulletin advertising queries and requests: victesol@victesol.vic.edu.au
Research Surveys
Similarly to advertisements, the decision of which research surveys are considered to be of interest to our members will be made by the Communications sub-committee.
For any research survey invitations to be included in the eBulletin the following criteria must be met:
- The invitation must be text only, be no more than 150 words and include a web link to the survey.
- Links from within the 150 words should include ethics approval.
- The person/organisation undertaking the survey must be a current member of VicTESOL, or an ACTA state affiliate.
A disclaimer will be inserted into the eBulletin acknowledging that VicTESOL does not endorse nor support the survey contents or any findings which may result.
Updated: May 2016
Event Refund Policy
VicTESOL needs to ensure that planned professional learning activities are able to proceed as well as ensure that these are not run at a loss.
Aims
To provide a fair and equitable refund system.
Implementation
- Where VicTESOL is charged for the provision of a program or service as a bulk cost and not a per participant cost, no refund is able to be given.
- Where only a per participant fee is charged then a refund may be given unless this has been prepaid by VicTESOL before the event.
- If there is a combination of a bulk cost and a per participant cost then only the ‘per participant’ component may be refunded.
- When a participant is not able to attend an activity and provides less than a week’s notice or is after the event then a refund of up to 50% of the applicable amount may apply.
- When a participant is not able to attend an activity and provides more than one week’s notice then a refund of up to 100% of the applicable amount may apply.
- Where a planned activity is cancelled or postponed by VicTESOL then participants may be offered a refund or credit to the rescheduled activity.
- All claims for reimbursements must be made within 14 days of the event to VicTESOL.
- Decisions regarding refunds or non-refunds will be made by the Professional Learning sub-committee and reported to the VicTESOL committee as part of the its report on professional activities.
Updated: May 2016
Privacy Policy
Introduction
VicTESOL is a professional association committed to promoting excellence in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and fostering and supporting cultural and linguistic diversity through high quality multicultural education. VicTESOL provides support and services to generalist, content, trade and EAL (ESL) specialist teachers across sectors including
- Kindergartens
- Schools
- Adult & community education
- TAFE
- SEE
- AMEP
- ELICOS centres
- Universities
- Industry settings.
VicTESOL collects personal information in order to conduct its business of representing, advocating and campaigning for the professional interests of its members.
VicTESOL is committed to protecting your privacy and providing you with information and services relevant to you. VicTESOL complies with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and amendments commencing March 2014 and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). This Privacy Policy (Policy) should be read in conjunction with the Privacy Act and the APPs.
How this Policy applies
This Policy applies to personal information VicTESOL collects from you:
- via our websites;
- via social media;
- via telephone;
- via email;
- via fax;
- in person; and/or
- in writing.
VicTESOL website
The VicTESOL website collect two types of information. The first type is anonymous information. The web server makes a record of your visit and logs the following information for statistical purposes:
- the user’s server address;
- the user’s top level domain name (e.g. com, .gov, .net, .au, etc.);
- the date and time of the visit to the site;
- the pages accessed and documents downloaded;
- the previous site visited; and
- the type of browser used.
No attempt will be made to identify users or their browsing activities except, in the unlikely event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect the internet service provider’s logs.
Another way information may be collected is through the use of “cookies”. A cookie is a small text file that the website may place on your computer. Cookies may be used, among other things, to track the pages you have visited, to remember your preferences and to store personal information about you.
You can adjust your Internet browser to disable cookies or to warn you when cookies are being used. However, if you disable cookies, you may not be able to access certain areas of the Website or take advantage of the improved web site experience that cookies offer.
Our website, may contain links to other websites, social media pages including Facebook, Twitter or other software programs. We are not responsible for the privacy policies of the entities responsible for those websites and we recommend that you review the privacy policies applicable to any other websites you visit.
VicTESOL may however collect information, including personal or sensitive information from these other websites or social media pages for the purpose of conducting its business as described above.
The kinds of information VicTESOL may collect
From time to time you may voluntarily supply your personal information to VicTESOL. VicTESOL will record your e-mail address if you send us a message, subscribe to an email newsletter, or complete a form if this information is requested.
When you provide your personal information, it allows us, for example, to accept your application for membership. You may supply personal information to VicTESOL by, for example, responding to a survey, filling in a meeting attendance sheet, taking part in a competition or completing a membership form, VicTESOL only collects personal information that is necessary for VicTESOL to perform its functions and/or activities.
Depending upon the circumstances you may provide to VicTESOL, and it may collect, information such as, but not limited to:
- your name;
- your contact details;
- your date of birth;
- your gender;
- your marital status;
- your employment details;
- your social media details (e.g. blogs, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn);
- your bank details
- your educational qualifications; and
Some personal information is considered sensitive information and includes:
- your political, religious or philosophical opinions;
- your political party membership (if any);
- your union membership (if any);
- your racial or ethnic origin;
- your sexual orientation;
- any disabilities, illnesses or injuries you may have; and/or
- any other health information.
The Privacy Act allows VicTESOL to collect sensitive information which relates solely to its members or people who have regular contact with VicTESOL if the sensitive information relates to VicTESOL’s activities. We will only collect sensitive information where we have received your consent to your personal information being collected, used, disclosed and stored by VicTESOL in accordance with this Policy.
The purposes for which personal information is collected, held, used and disclosed
VicTESOL collects, holds, uses and discloses your personal information to:
- improve our service delivery;
- manage our relationship with you;
- conduct surveys and research;
provide educational services and professional development;either directly or through The Australian Council of TESOL Associations (ACTA)
Unsubscribing and opting out
If you no longer wish to receive direct marketing or other communications, you may request at any time to cancel your consent to such communications as follows:
- If subscribing to an email newsletter you may “unsubscribe” at any time from the newsletter mailing list;
How VicTESOL holds personal information
Wherever reasonably practicable VicTESOL holds electronic personal information on data servers that are owned and controlled by VicTESOL in Australia. The data servers are password protected and login secured. However, by providing personal information to VicTESOL you consent to your information being stored and processed on a data server or data servers (e.g. cloud services) owned by a third party or third parties that may be located outside of Australia. VicTESOL will take reasonable steps to ensure that with the APPs. If personal information is only routed through servers located outside of Australia – this not regarded as a disclosure.
Wherever reasonably practicable VicTESOL holds physical personal information in access controlled premises.
When VicTESOL no longer requires your personal information for a specific purpose and we are not required to keep it to comply with any laws, we will take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to destroy your personal information or to ensure that the information is de-identified.
Government Identifiers
We will not adopt as our own identifier a government related identifier of an individual, such as a tax file number or Medicare card number and will only use or disclose a government related identifier where the use or disclosure:
- is reasonably necessary for VicTESOL to fulfil its obligations to an agency or a State or Territory authority;
- is required or authorised by or under an Australian law; or
- is reasonably necessary for one or more enforcement related activities conducted by, or on behalf of, an enforcement body.
How you may seek access and/or correction to personal information held by VicTESOL
You have the right to request access to your personal information and request that it be updated or corrected. In most cases you can gain access to your personal information that VicTESOL holds.
VicTESOL requires that you provide proof of identity in order to seek access to your personal information. VicTESOL may refuse to provide access if permitted to do so by law or under the APPs. VicTESOL will seek to provide you with access to your personal information within 30 days of receipt of a valid request and may charge you a reasonable fee for doing so.
You should contact VicTESOL when your personal information details change. It is important that we keep our membership details up to date. Please contact VicTESOL to update any personal information. VicTESOL may also take steps to update your personal information by reference to publicly available sources such as telephone directories or electoral rolls or through your workplace union representatives.
Variations to the Policy
This Policy may be varied from time to time and an updated version will be posted on VicTESOL’s website. Please check our websites regularly to ensure that you have the most recent version of the Policy.
