Tougher stance on school violence and bullying
13 July 2009
A statewide review of school disciplinary processes will look at new ways to combat violence and bullying in Queensland state schools.
Queensland state school principals could be given stronger powers to combat poor student behaviour under a major review of school disciplinary processes.
Schools will also be asked to review their Responsible Behaviour Plans and work with their school communities as part of a range of new initiatives designed to combat violence and bullying in our schools.
Education and Training Minister Geoff Wilson, who announced the statewide review last week, said he was concerned about the level of violence in Queensland schools, with parents, teachers and principals often raising the issue with him.
'That's why I am driving a range of new initiatives to help teachers and principals combat bad behaviour,' Mr Wilson said.
'I am convening a special meeting of the Statewide Behaviour Committee to discuss the possibility of giving principals stronger powers when it comes to managing behaviour.
'I want to reassure principals they are strongly supported in taking firm action against behaviour that fails to meet high community expectations.'
Mr Wilson said schools needed to update their Responsible Behaviour Plans to deal with the spread of cyber bullying.
'The increasing prevalence of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace means we are seeing more and more instances of students being bullied over the Internet,' he said.
Mr Wilson said increased access to mobile phones was also an issue, and schools needed to ensure they have measures in place to take action against students who use them inappropriately.
A bullying expert will also be engaged to help develop better statewide strategies to deal with these issues.
This work will feed into schools' reviews of their Responsible Behaviour Plans so the updated plans can be in place for the start of the new school year.
Mr Wilson said it was important to also address the underlying issues that caused students to behave badly in the first place.
'Disciplinary action sends a message, but it's vital that we are able to help and support students who consistently misbehave to change their behaviour,' he said.
'That's why we are investing more than $28 million in behaviour support programs in 2009-10.
'Helping students learn from their behaviour and giving them the support they need to change are key elements for improving behaviour standards in our schools.'
Mr Wilson said new data, released at a school level for the first time, showed schools were already taking stronger action to combat an increase in bullying and violent incidents.
'The State Government strongly supports principals taking a tough stance on bad behaviour and it's clear from these numbers that schools are cracking down.
'But it's worrying that these types of incidents appear to be increasing, and we clearly need to do more.'
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