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What is a critical incident?��

ISANA defines a critical incident as being:

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‘A tragic or traumatic event or situation affecting a student/students which has the potential to cause unusually strong emotional reactions in the school/campus community.’

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All educational institutions have their own institution-wide critical incident plans, however, such plans may not meet the individual needs of international students during a critical incident. Consideration of our legal, contractual and our pastoral obligations clarify why we need an international student component to any institution critical incident plan.��

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Legal obligations

Emergency plans are mandatory for all educational institutions. The Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 sets out our legal obligations to have critical incident plans in place for tertiary domestic learners and all international learners.��

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Contractual obligations

The Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 sets out the contractual obligations needed to ensure appropriate measures are in place to provide support to our international students during a critical incident. See section 3A below for relevant sections of the Code. Obligations include ensuring that international students have insurance that will cover them in the event of serious injury, in addition to death cover. Also needed is a robust Refund Policy in the event of your institution being unable to offer instruction as a result of a critical incident.

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Pastoral obligations

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Institutional critical incident plans are primarily created with domestic students in mind. The assumption is made that parents and caregivers are immediately available to organise and manage arrangements around any critical incident involving their children. However, the majority of high school and tertiary international students are in New Zealand without parental support on hand so institutional critical incident plans need to recognise this gap. In addition, primary aged children will be here with an accompanying parent who may have little or no English or support networks.

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What functions and support roles do parents and caregivers of domestic students play in a critical incident?

Parents, caregivers and the wider community play a pivotal role in critical incidents supporting domestic students. Knowing the support functions that they play provides the opportunity to build a list of support needs (the gaps) that need to be covered when supporting international students through critical incidents. If one of your international students is involved in a critical incident then you will be responsible for carrying out all the support functions (scenario dependent) normally carried out by domestic parents and caregivers, in addition to those tasks specific to meeting international student needs. Such functions may include liaising with police, hospital, funeral directors, providing access to key institutional contacts and assisting with travel provisions for the overseas family to travel to New Zealand. When you know the range of potential tasks associated with critical incidents you can start building your essential critical incident contact list as part of your critical incident plan.

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Creating a critical incident plan does not need to be a daunting exercise. There are a range of resources available which provide a wealth of information and the building blocks to meet your needs in developing a tailored critical incident plan. Your initial plan needs to be basic and comprehensive covering specific essential ‘must do’ items. It provides the foundation on which to build and incorporate contingencies representing the spectrum of critical incident scenarios.

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Trusted, evidence-based resources include:

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2. Introduction to the
3. .��
5. National Emergency Management Agency: The and

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Let’s look at each of these in turn with respect to providing information around developing a tailored critical incident plan.

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2.1 Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021.

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The provides the legal framework that education providers must meet for the wellbeing and safety of their international learners. When preparing your critical incident plan you need to ensure compliance with the relevant parts of the Code

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2.2 91��Ʒ���ϳԹ�’s Critical Incident Kit

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Creating a critical incident plan does not need to be a daunting exercise. There are a range of resources available which provide a wealth of information and the building blocks to meet your needs in developing a tailored critical incident plan. Your initial plan needs to be basic and comprehensive covering specific essential ‘must do’ items. It provides the foundation on which to build and incorporate contingencies representing the spectrum of critical incident scenarios.

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Trusted, evidence-based resources include:

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2. Introduction to the 91��Ʒ���ϳԹ� Critical Incident Kit
3. .��
5. National Emergency Management Agency: The and

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Let’s look at each of these in turn with respect to providing information around developing a tailored critical incident plan.

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2.1 Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021.

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The provides the legal framework that education providers must meet for the wellbeing and safety of their international learners. When preparing your critical incident plan you need to ensure compliance with the relevant parts of the Code

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2.2 91��Ʒ���ϳԹ�’s Critical Incident Kit

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The introductory sections of the shares key critical incident information provided by experienced practitioners. Experienced grassroots practitioners understand that those working closely with international students will be the first people notified in the event of a critical incident. This is due to the trusted nature of their existing professional relationships with international students. The ISANA guidelines provide information around critical incident planning and the immediate, ongoing and follow up responses. It also covers components of practitioner health and wellbeing.�� It is a practitioner focused document recognising essential skills and attributes needed to deal with a critical incident and how to prepare yourself and other staff members for dealing with a critical incident in a cross-cultural setting. It recognises that self-care is a key principle in critical incident management.����

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2.3 Ministry of Education: Emergencies and traumatic incidents

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The Ministry of Education’s provides an all-in-one fully comprehensive resource for schools to comply with health and safety regulations, recognising that emergency plans are mandatory for all schools. Critical incident policies, processes and procedures need to be coordinated so that in a time of crisis everyone is prepared and knows what to do. No-one knows when a critical incident may happen and these resources cover a range of scenarios to allow for international perspectives to be incorporated into institutional plans.

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What are the essential ‘go to’s’ and the ‘must haves’ you need to have in your plan so you can manage a critical incident? Critical incidents take many shapes and forms. However, our critical incident plan shouldn’t be complex. Instead, you need to keep things simple so that, in the midst of a critical incident, what needs to get done, gets done. No matter what the critical incident there are a few key things you can have in place to be prepared to meet any critical incident. Let us look at the essential learnings from our critical incident resources above to develop a tailored critical incident plan comprising:

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A �� Readiness – preparation and planning

B �� Reduction – risk analysis

C �� Response – immediate response

D �� Recovery – ongoing response

3.1 Readiness – preparation and planning

The proverb “You reap what you sow” is highly relevant in the critical incident planning context as the more that can be planned ahead, the better prepared you will be when a critical incident presents itself. No matter what the critical incident is, there are a few key things that need to be in place in order to be prepared. Our resources share some common objectives around critical incident planning; this information can inform how we can include our international critical incident plan into the wider institutional critical incident plan. Using the Ministry of Education’s as the principle source of information, our planning process includes:

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Establishment of a Critical Incident Management Team (CIMT) who will be responsible for planning, leading, delegating, responding and managing institutional recovery to the critical incident. The International Director will represent the needs of international students on the CIMT. Functions of the CIMT include:

• All team members need to understand the parameters of their roles and their responsibilities in a critical incident.
• Preparation of essential contact lists including Police, Civil Defence, Embassies, High Commissions, Consulates, student associations, funeral directors, doctors, dentists, health specialists, local and regional councils and local cultural groups.
• Regular training will ensure that CIMT team members understand their roles, will have undertaken emergency drills and practised various critical incident scenarios.��

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The institution puts systems in place to respond and be ready to respond to events. International student needs are recognised and include:

• Accommodation – lockdown, evacuation, temporary shelter, relocation, homestay, handover of care for under 18 year international students.
• Back-up information systems in more than one place in case of physical damage to institutional location.
• Emergency response warning systems to alert staff, students and parents if the institution is placed in lockdown or evacuation is in place.��
• First aid responders, training, first aid equipment. Includes first aid training for international student support staff.
• Reunification of students with parents, caregivers and homestay families after a critical incident.
• Storage of key information. Keep paper-based student contact information on hand at all times.����
• Emergency packs containing essentials such as radio, torch, candles, matches, first aid kits, food and water placed in strategic locations around the institution including the International Department. Ensure that homestay hosts have emergency packs in their households.��

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Put operational institutional processes and procedures in place:

• Communicate processes and procedures to emergency services, staff, students, parents, caregivers, homestay hosts and student associations.����
• Ensure that students receive a well organised and easily understandable orientation around critical incidents. Consider the use of first language advisors to provide emergency information in first languages.
• Provide training, scenario role playing, practice drills and warning systems to international students and homestay families.
• Ensure that international students have emergency and important contact information and a photo of their passport and other ID saved onto their mobile phone.

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Have a timely comprehensible Communication Strategy incorporating:

• Communication protocols around who, when and how to communicate information during and after a critical incident with emergency services, staff, students, homestay families and parents.��
• Communication trees incorporating international department and institutional-wide specific contact numbers.
• Preferred communication channels to use dependent on specific information for students, parents and homestay families, e.g.�� social media, text, phone, email, newsletter.
• Mobile phone strategy regarding students responding to institution’s texts and phone calls and having mobile phones with them at all times.��
• How to share accurate timely information to overcome misinformation being sent out by students through social media.
• Privacy protocols when sharing information with media, students, staff and external stakeholders.

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Recovery and wellbeing

• Recovery and wellbeing procedures to support students, staff and homestay families after a critical incident.

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Reviewing the plan – repetition makes perfect:

• Peer review the effectiveness of your international critical incident plan and procedures with key stakeholders within your institution. How does it fit?
• Share your plan with an international practitioner from another institution for feedback and incorporate meaningful feedback into your plan.��
• Your international critical incident plan is an evolving document. Ensure that critical incident plans are reviewed annually in line with your Code attestation and after any critical incident to meet your international students’ needs before, during and after a critical incident.��

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3.2 Reduction – risk analysis

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A component of critical incident preparation is the Reduction phase. What risks can we identify to eliminate or mitigate the impact or likelihood associated with incidents occurring? A key risk factor for international students is comprehension of critical incident information and messages. provides information on how to deliver key critical incident messages in an understandable and accessible way which can be easily shared by international students through their networks. Key risks for you to consider include:

• The diversity of country, culture, lived experience and social media preferences in your international student population.
• Critical incident information not provided in an easily understood way at your student orientation.
• International students having to deal with a critical incident in our country without having an understanding of this country’s context and life experience. We cannot assume they have life experience to manage themselves in a critical incident.��
• International students use search engines from their home countries to find critical incident information from their home country which is not relevant in this country.
• The need to change the perceptions of international students who believe that they don’t need to know the information you provide as a critical incident won’t happen to them.

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3.3 Response – immediate response

“Following the earthquake we stayed in our International Department as it was free of damage and a safe place for students and staff to shelter. We had been in contact with our own families and knew that they were safe and that they had things under control on the home front. We had to stay at school with all our international students until such time that they had all been collected by their families or homestay parents. We knew it could take hours for them to reach us and we were so grateful that we had water, an emergency food supply and blankets to keep us going until all our international students had been collected.”��

International Director, High School, Christchurch.

Our initial response to a critical incident can save lives. The MoE’s Brief Overview for Incident Management Teams – First 24 hours in provides an easy to follow flowchart around institution-wide procedures to be followed as soon as a critical incident has been identified. Procedures in both NZQA’S and the introduction to the provide actions to be considered to meet international student needs in any immediate response:

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