Question On Notice No. 2129 asked in the Legislative Council on 20 August 2024 by Hon Dr Brad Pettitt
Question Directed to the: Leader of the House representing the Minister for Education
Parliament: 41 Session: 1
Question
I refer to reportable
incidences of the use of restraint against disabled, autistic or intellectually
disabled children at Western Australian primary schools from January
2020 to June 2024, and I ask:
(a) how many such reportable incidences occurred;
(b) will a breakdown of the reportable incidences please be provided, including the type of restraint, how long the
child was restrained for, how many staff were involved, and whether the child’s
family were debriefed about the incident;
(c) how many of these incidences resulted in reports of a physical injury such as bruising,
cuts, muscle soreness or other injury, caused by being restrained;
(d) will a breakdown of the incidences identified at (c) please be provided, including whether any children were taken to hospital or sought other medical treatment as a result;
(e) of the children identified at (a), how many:
(i) experienced a reduction in school attendance post-incident; and
(ii) are still enrolled in the school;
(f) as a result of reportable incidences identified at (a), how many of the families of children have:
(i) engaged in formal complaints processes; and
(ii) settled their cases financially with the
Department of Education and Western Australian Government; and
(g) how many investigations into the reportable incidences identified at (a) are currently ongoing?
Answered on 15 October 2024
(a) 1,424 incidents reported.
(b) The restraint type, duration of restraint and information about whether families were debriefed are not collected at a system level. The number of staff involved was 2,511.
(c)-(d) Not collected at a system level.
(e) The response to (a) is the number of incidents, not the number of children.
(i)-(ii) Not collected at a system level.
(f)-(g) Not collected at a system level.
Note:
1. Excludes non-government schools.