Page 4780 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 11 November 2009
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suspend a student for up to 20 days. The bill the opposition is introducing today will also afford the same autonomy to both Catholic and government schools that is already afforded to independent schools.
We can say it again and again but the reality is that suspension for a maximum amount of time will be rarely used. But again it is the principle of the issue. If the need arises, the school itself is best placed to find a way forward—and in some cases it may be the only way to move forward—and that is to have a circuit breaker, at the discretion of the principal.
Suspension is certainly not the only answer to antisocial behaviour in ACT schools but it is a valuable tool that should be made available to the principals who are at the coalface. They and they alone are best placed to ascertain the necessity and the efficacy of this tool. However, when suspensions are sanctioned for a significant length of time, they should be accompanied by guidelines that provide support for both the student and the school community and ensure the best possible outcomes for the suspended student to be reintegrated into the school community.
After my consultation with the relevant stakeholders, the bill today includes a provision for the department to set out guidelines for principals to ensure that the re-entry of a student is as supportive and streamlined as possible. These guidelines will be set down by the department and will no doubt incorporate some of the policies that already exist within the system.
The difference is that the focus will now be on these policies, and the requirement for guidelines will ensure that these policies are formalised and acknowledged as best practice for principals. The requirement for guidelines will ensure that all parties are aware that the re-entry of a student will be supported, consultative and as smooth as possible for everyone—for the student and his or her family as well as the school and the school community.
This topic has generated considerable interest in the community and we have had a lot of support from parents who are urging us to take a stand on their behalf. An example of the feelings in the community is also exemplified by the following letters to the editor in Monday’s Canberra Times. I quote from two letters under the heading “School discipline”:
Trevor Cobbold (“Get tough policies … ” November 5, p15) may be right in saying that increasing periods of suspension is counterproductive for the individual student. However, periods of suspension no doubt give the other 30 students in the class, and the teacher, much needed respite and a chance to get on with learning. Surely, the other children deserve some consideration in the management of disruptive students.
That was from a C Thomas of Deakin. The other letter was:
While Trevor Cobbold rightly recognises that schools could do more to address student misbehaviour, he appears unsympathetic to the immediate problem that schools face in meeting the conflicting goals imposed on them.
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