Pilot Project
During 2019, we conducted a preliminary pilot study to examine the legislative policies in Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. This pilot revealed that there are differences between the states in how they define exclusionary practices, what behaviours warrant exclusion, who has the authority to sanction exclusions, the duration of exclusions, and the provision of appeal processes (Sullivan, Johnson, Slee, Manolev, & Tippett, 2019).
For example, grounds for exclusion vary from disengaged behaviours such as ‘indifference to school work’ to anti-social/aggressive behaviours such as ‘acting illegally’ (Sullivan et al., 2019). The findings of our pilot research suggest that exclusionary practices are encouraged by legislation as an effective means to manage repetitive or ‘difficult’ student behaviour in schools. In doing so, the legislation clearly frames individual students as the ‘problem’ when civil relationships break down in schools; it largely ignores the influence of complex home lives, poor teaching and repressive discipline regimes in compromising student–teacher relationships.
The following Partner Organisations contributed funds and/or in-kind support to the pilot study:
The Commissioner for Children and Young People, South Australia
Commissioner for Children and Young People, Western Australia
Commission for Children and Young People, Victoria
Australian Secondary Principals Association
Australian Primary Principals Association
South Australian Secondary Principals Association
South Australian Primary Principals Association