Figures regarding school disciplinary processes collated by the ABC indicate that suspension and expulsion rates are generally escalating across the country, in both numbers and as a proportion of school population. The ABC article also referred to the fact that academics and studies regularly suggest that schools need to be changing the way that they deal with bad behaviour.

From a purely educational perspective, sanctions or consequences, and more importantly the absolute assurance that there will be a consequence, are often a strong deterrent for inappropriate student behaviour in a school environment. The imposition of a sanction also ‘sends a message’ to the school community regarding the school’s position regarding the particular type of unacceptable behaviour, and, I would argue, supports the total culture of the school. In addition, there are occasions where parents and guardians may not accept that their child has behaved badly or has breached the Student Code of Conduct. Having very clear and assured consequences with a fair and transparent process is one step that may assist to reduce the angst when a situation such as this arises.

Non-government schools across the country have the right to discipline students by way of suspension or expulsion if the behaviours exhibited by the student breach the school’s student code of conduct and if these sanctions are within the range of punitive sanctions outlined in the school’s student discipline or behaviour management policy and strategies. However, the schools must comply with jurisdictional legal obligations and also their duty of care to students. In addition, all registrations standards, in every state and territory, address the topic of student discipline.

Youth Law, provides a valuable guide for young people regarding whether or not the category of school that they attend can expel a student. In relation to non-government schools (although they use the term “private school”) they state:

“Can I be thrown out of a private school?

Yes, you can be excluded for a short period of time (suspended) or permanently excluded (expelled). Each private school may have different rules or procedures for suspensions and expulsions.

What can I do if I am expelled from a private school?

Private schools have greater freedom in excluding students as they are not regulated by the government. Make sure you get a copy of the school’s disciplinary procedures. The school may have an internal procedure for challenging an expulsion.”

They also note that students may have the right to take legal action against their school if:

• they were not allowed to tell their side of the story;
• they were expelled for something very minor; or
• they were expelled because of their gender, race, nationality, sexuality, religious or political belief, disability or other reason that amounts to unlawful discrimination.

Suspensions and Time-Out

Suspensions, according to a spokeswoman for the ACT Education Department, in the previous ABC article, give staff time to ensure individual supports for a student are in place. The South Australian Education Department said suspensions support victims of bullying or assault and in WA a department spokeswoman said that they had an action plan on violence in schools which meant that principals must suspend students who attacked other students, started fights or filmed a fight. However, in a draft behaviour strategy proposal for government schools in New South Wales, although school principals will be given more discretion over suspensions, maximum school suspension time will be cut from 20 to 10 days and students from Kindergarten to Year 2 will only be allowed to be suspended from school for serious physical violence.

Many primary schools and some secondary schools use ‘time-out’ as a form of sanction for students who need to be removed from their peers to either think about their behaviour, consider the consequences of their actions or just give the class a break from a student who is preventing them from learning. Anecdotal conversations with non-government school principals and deputy principals indicate that many have used suspension as a more formal ‘time-out’. Please note that there is still a duty of care relationship in place and that any student given ‘time-out’ in a school environment must be supervised.

Students can be suspended either in or out of school, usually for serious types of misbehaviour, such as fighting with another student. Schools will often use suspensions to give students time to reflect on their behaviour, give the school time to develop suitable programs and support for both the suspended student and the others affected by their behaviour and send a message to the school community that certain behaviours will not be tolerated. I suspect this sounds very similar to ‘time-out’ but it is for more serious infractions of rules and a school’s student code of conduct.

In my own experience, I found that suspensions of students (out of school) following a playground altercation (usually a fight), would not only send a message to the school community that physical altercations were not condoned by the school in any way but, by immediately removing the combatants from the student cohort, there was a reduced chance of the situation escalating again and it reduced the unnecessary student social chatter in classrooms. Of course there would usually be a virtual tsunami of social media chatter later in the day and into the evening, but the separation of the students ensured that the school’s duty of care towards them and the other students regarding their health and safety was maintained.

However, a number of education academics are now asking if suspension actually changes the student’s behaviour for the better. The reality is that suspension, like any sanction, will only work if there is parent support, if there is a fair process that leads to the suspension and if the student sees the suspension as possibly a final step before the possibility of expulsion. Like any sanction, if it is not followed through effectively, if there is no genuine learning that can come from the sanction and if the student does not see it as a disciplinary process then, like any ‘paper tiger’ sanction, it will not assist in a positive behavioural change.

To Expel or Not to Expel?

When considering the expulsion of a student from school, one of the concerns that principals have is for the safety and wellbeing of other students and staff.

The reality is that principals almost always see expulsion, except in cases of extreme misbehaviour, as a last resort and not a first. Invariably there are many other steps that usually take place before such a drastic process would begin. These steps often include interviews with the student, interviews with the parents/carers, periods of suspension, alternative behaviour strategies, counselling or involvement of psychologists and contracts of behaviour.

If an expulsion or exclusion seems inevitable, school principals should follow their school policies and processes to the letter and adhere to the principles of procedural fairness and natural justice throughout the whole process.

The Age recently reported that the number of students expelled from Victorian government schools has plunged by more than a third in just two years after students and parents were given more power of appeal. They also reported that principals lost significant autonomy to expel troublesome students in July 2018, when a new Ministerial Order took effect, giving students and parents multiple grounds to appeal to an independent panel.

If a principal is deciding whether or not to expel a student from their school, they must accurately follow school policy and procedure and have a fair and transparent process, but also ensure that they comply with any prescribed requirements of state and territory legislation. In addition, they must ensure that the offending behaviour is not directly associated with any known disability or special need of the student.

Summary

Schools work hard to ensure that all students receive positive guidance and encouragement towards acceptable behaviours and are given opportunities to interact and develop respectful relationships with each other, staff members and volunteers.

Serious sanctions such as suspensions and expulsions are never taken lightly and are usually given only after many other avenues to assist a child to behave in a more appropriate manner have failed.

Additionally, schools try to ensure that any form of behaviour management, discipline or punishment conforms to the principles of procedural fairness, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child (especially Article 28) and the prohibition on unlawful discrimination.

Principals that choose to use either suspension or expulsion in order to maintain the good order of their school usually do so only when they believe that the needs of the many must take precedence over the single student.