Question On Notice No. 1680 asked in the Legislative Council on 9 October 2018 by Hon Alison Xamon
Question Directed to the: Minister for Education and Training
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
Tabled Paper No: 2157-
View tabled paper
Question
I
refer to the physical restraint of students, and I ask:
(a) are schools required to record all instances of
the physical restraint of students by school staff;
(b) if no to (a), why not;
(c) if yes to (a), which specific details are required to be recorded;
(d) if yes to (a), please advise the number of occasions students were physically restrained by school staff in:
(i) 2015;
(ii) 2016;
(iii) 2017; and
(iv) 2018 to date;
(e) please
advise the number of individual students who were physically restrained by
school staff in:
(i) 2015;
(ii) 2016;
(iii) 2017; and
(iv) 2018 to date; and
(f) please
list, by school, the number of occasions students with disability were
physically restrained by school staff in:
(i) 2015;
(ii) 2016;
(iii) 2017; and
(iv) 2018 to date?
Answered on 6 November 2018
Answer
Regulation 38 under the School Education Regulations 2000 sets out staff members’ powers to manage students. The regulation states:
A member of staff of a government school may, in the performance of the person’s functions, take such action, including physical contact with a student or a student’s property, as is reasonable –
- To manage or care for a student; or
- To maintain or re-establish order; or
- To prevent or restrain a person from –
i. Placing at risk the safety of any person; or
ii. Damaging any property.
The Department’s online incident notification system captures when a restraint is applied across the following incident types:
- Physical Assault, Intimidating/Threatening Behaviour, Contact
- Believed Suicidal Behaviour or Non-Suicidal Self-injury
- Verbal or Cyber Threat and/or Comment
- Disruptive Conduct
(a) Yes.
(b) Not applicable.
(c) Details required to be recorded are:
- date, time, location and duration of the physical restraint;
- name of student and name(s) of the staff member(s) involved;
- reason for the physical restraint;
- alternative strategies attempted prior to the application of physical restraint;
- brief detail of the follow-up support provided;
- detail of contact with the parent/carer;
- a statement by the staff member/s involved; and
- whenever possible, a statement by the student involved.
(d)
|
Year
|
Number of incidents
|
|
2015
|
230
|
|
2016
|
1 009
|
|
2017
|
1 317
|
|
2018 (9 October 2018)
|
879
|
Note 1: Each occasion equates to a separate incident of restraint of an individual student
Note 2: Improved restraint questioning implemented within the incident reporting system for start of 2016, as per the Student Behaviour policy and procedures.
(e)
|
Year
|
Number of incidents
|
|
2015
|
62
|
|
2016
|
236
|
|
2017
|
817
|
|
2018 (9 October 2018)
|
467
|
Note 1: Each occasion equates to a separate incident of restraint of an individual student
Note 2: Improved restraint questioning implemented within the incident reporting system for start of 2016 as per the Student Behaviour policy and procedures.
(f) See Tabled Paper No.