Recommended Levels of School Staff Education and Training
The 2024 ISPAD Position Statement on Management of Type 1 Diabetes in Schools is a legally validated international consensus document upon which legislation, policy and advocacy should be based.
Both ISPAD and Safe work Australia legislation directs that schools are responsible for ensuring that their personnel are adequately educated and trained in the application of prescribed treatment for the individual student.
Safe Work Australia, through its Chief Executive Officer Marie Boland, has formally acknowledged and endorsed the 2024 ISPAD Position Statement on Type 1 Diabetes in Schools as a credible and appropriate resource for schools and education authorities in meeting their workplace health and safety obligations. In her correspondence of 25 March 2025, Ms Boland recognised the importance of schools discharging their duties under the model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of children with medical conditions such as type 1 diabetes. She emphasised that the principle-based WHS framework requires schools, as Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBUs), to undertake context-specific risk assessments, ensure appropriate staff training, and implement tailored controls, and confirmed that it would be open to any PCBU to adopt the ISPAD Position Statement as part of fulfilling these duties. This acknowledgment situates the ISPAD guidance as aligned with national WHS principles and supports its use as an authoritative benchmark for diabetes risk management and training in school settings.
Safe Work Australia CEO letter to Australian Paediatric Society March 202534.61 KB
ISPAD recommends the following Levels of School Staff Education and Training:
ISPAD Level 1 – Education
For: All school staff
Purpose: Basic awareness of T1D and safety response
Content:
- Recognize signs of low and high glucose
- Act immediately and escalate to trained staff
- Know who to contact in an emergency
Format: e-learning or in-person with no hands-on training required
ISPAD Level 2 – Education & Training
For: Staff who supervise or interact with the student regularly who may need to respond to T1D medical events
Purpose: Enable timely, informed T1D first aid response
Content:
- Understand the student’s Diabetes Management Plan (DMP)
- Apply Emergency Response Plan (ERP) for high or low glucose levels
- Understand the impact of food, activity, and illness
Format:
- General and student-specific education with T1D first aid training
ISPAD Level 3 – Education & Training
For: Staff providing complex medical care (e.g., insulin administration)
Purpose: Deliver prescribed T1D medical care safely and legally
Content:
- Individualized training aligned with medical orders and workplace requirements
- Competence and jurisdiction-specific authorisation of insulin administration and interpreting T1D data
Format:
- Level 1 & 2 completion required and Level 3 e-learning and in-person authorised training