SCHOOL VIOLENCE
25. Hon DONNA FARAGHER to the Minister for Education and
Training:
I refer to the minister's
statement on school violence released in December 2018 and specifically actions
4, 6 and 8.
(1) Have the
new guidelines for school staff on responding to aggression been finalised;
and, if not, why not?
(2) If yes to
(1), will the minister table a copy of the guidelines?
(3) Has every
public school added ''good standing'' requirements to their
behaviour policy as required under action 6?
(4) Has the
review to clearly define what is a school ''critical incident''
as well as incident reporting and monitoring been completed; and, if not, why
not?
(5) If yes to (4), will the minister provide more detail on
the outcome of this review?
Hon SUE ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the
question.
(1) Yes.
(2) Yes. The
guidelines were sent to schools on Monday, 3 December 2018. I table the
attached ''Physical Contact with Students'' guidelines.
[See paper
2395.]
(3) From the
start of the 2019 school year, every public school will review their school
behaviour policies to ensure the inclusion of ''good standing''
requirements. It is the Department of Education's expectation that
schools consult with their communities in making changes to their school
behaviour policies. In this case, it will involve consideration of how to best
apply ''good standing'' in their particular contexts. Workshops
are being conducted for principals throughout term 1, 2019, to provide advice
and guidance on implementing ''good standing'' as now required in
the department's student behaviour policy.
(4) The
review, to be conducted in consultation with principals, commences on 18
February 2019. It is a component of the workshops referred to in the response
to part (3).
(5) Once the outcomes of the review are known, I will provide
further details.