Coalition Promises to Act on Student Discipline

MEDIA Release, Mr Ted Baillieu, MLA, 14/09/09; The Age, Farrah Tomazin, 15/09/09

The Victorian Opposition has announced that, if it is elected at the next state election, it would give government school principals greater power to act on issues of student discipline. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Ted Baillieu, MLA, released data indicating that the number of student suspensions in Victorian government primary schools had increased from 1089 in 2000 to 2175 in 2008. He criticised recent changes to the ability of individual school principals to suspend and expel students, and claimed that the data demonstrated that school discipline had ‘gone backwards’ under the Bracks and Brumby Governments. Mr Baillieu stated that the Coalition would:

• reinstate school principals’ right to expel or suspend students at their discretion
• permit principals to ban dangerous items from school grounds
• permit principals to search students and confiscate weapons
• increase penalties for assault and vandalism on school grounds
• provide professional development for teachers to help maintain discipline. 

Minister Pike argued that the Coalition’s announcement was ‘a lazy plan with disastrous consequences’. She stated that ‘Victorian parents would be horrified to learn that Mr Baillieu and his Opposition want to carry out weapons searches of Victorian schoolchildren as young as five’.

 

 

 

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