Code of Conduct

Christian Academy in Japan
Staff and Volunteer Code of Conduct for Child Safety

教職員及びボランティアの行動規範　詳細はクリックしてご覧ください。

Staff Code of Conduct with Signature

Employees and volunteers assume the full burden of maintaining safe, clearly-established safeguards in all interactions with children. The safeguards established in this Code of Conduct are intended to:

1. Provide a safe environment for minors (under the age of 20, as defined by Japanese law).

2. Facilitate healthy interactions between adults and children.

3. Help children develop safe boundaries for interaction with adults.

4. Protect employees and volunteers interacting with children.

Primary Principles

In any setting where children are present, these principles will guide our behavior.

1. Visibility – Is it possible for others to see me?

2. Accountability – Do others know where I am and what I am doing?

3. Appropriate use and balance of power – Do students feel safe in my presence?

Additional Principles

Each of the following principles further improves safe interactions within the school community.

1. Physical Contact

Touch will be in response to the need of the child, not the need of the adult. Acceptable physical contact should be:

• open, not secretive.
• age-appropriate.
• initiated by the child rather than the adult.
• with the child’s permission.
• respectful of a child’s resistance.

Actions that are unacceptable and may be considered abuse include, but are not limited to, the following:

• touching buttocks, chests, genital areas or thighs except to keep young children clean or healthy.
• any form of affection that is resisted or unwanted by the child.
• any behavior that could be interpreted as sexual in nature, including flirtatious or seductive looks.
• assisting the child with anything of a personal nature that children are able to do themselves, including dressing and bathing.

2. Discipline

Discipline should be used to teach and respectfully correct rather than punish. Actions that may be considered abuse include, but are not limited to:

• Physical Abuse: hitting, spanking, shaking, slapping, any behavior that assaults a child; pushing or restraining a child outside the goals of protecting them or others from danger or providing medical care.

• Verbal Abuse: degrading, ridiculing, yelling at a child or using other forms of hostile language.

• Sexual Abuse: inappropriate touching, exposing oneself, sexually inappropriate conversations.

• Mental Abuse: shaming, humiliation, cruelty.

• Neglect: inappropriate isolation or withholding food, water or shelter.

3. Communication

All verbal, non-verbal and digital communication with students, including e-mail, texts, and all forms of social media, will be guided by principles of professionalism and integrity and conducted with caution and discretion.

Appropriate behaviors include, but are not limited to, the following:

• praise and/or positive reinforcement with a pedagogical purpose when used consistently and equally for all children.
• e-mails using only the caj.ac.jp address.

Unacceptable behaviors include, but are not limited to, the following:

• profanity, sexual innuendo, or risqué jokes.
• private messaging via phone messaging, social media and/or online gaming communities, except in specific, approved situations, guided by our primary principles.
• yelling, threatening, ridiculing, shaming, humiliating or degrading comments.

4. Relationships

All relationships should be wholesome, above reproach and conducted in a way that honors God.

Adults should avoid favoring particular children to the exclusion of others, or excluding children in a derogatory or embarrassing way in the presence of others.

The following contact/relationships with a child/student are considered unacceptable:

• intimate contact/relationships.
• romantic contact/relationships.
• sexual contact/relationships.
• inappropriate emotional contact/relationships.

Administrators periodically and randomly inspect classrooms, offices, and other areas to verify compliance with these safeguards.

By policy, all staff are mandated reporters of any danger to a child's safety.

My signature below indicates that:

• I have read and understand this Code of Conduct for Child Safety, and I understand that any violation of this Code of Conduct may result in disciplinary action, not excluding immediate dismissal from CAJ.
• I agree to fully cooperate with any investigative process of CAJ and/or local authorities if allegations of any violation are made.
• I have not been accused of (to the best of my knowledge), been investigated for, or prosecuted for instances involving any form of abuse or inappropriate behavior with a minor.