Prep students should not be suspended from school, Human Rights Commissioner says

Prep students should not be slapped with suspensions for misbehaving in schools, Queensland’s Human Rights Commissioner has argued.

Education Minister Di Farmer has introduced a bill that would create new appeal rights for a student given a short suspension, with the proposal being reviewed by a parliamentary committee.

More than 600 Prep students were suspended in 2022 in Queensland.Credit: Shutterstock

But the Queensland Human Rights Commission (QHRC), led by Commissioner Scott McDougall, has argued that given the significant detrimental impacts suspension and expulsion from school can have on long-term life outcomes, prep students should not be included in the school disciplinary absences (SDA) regime.

In 2022, 684 short suspensions were handed out to prep students in Queensland, compared with more than 72,000 short suspensions for all year levels.

Early interventions should be prioritised for prep students who, because of their age and development, have limited capacity to understand and manage their behaviour, the QHRC argued.

“And are likely unable to comprehend the purpose or consequences of being suspended or excluded,” a QHRC written submission to the parliamentary committee read.

“Preparatory students can be as young as four-and-a-half years old.

“The Commission supports the preparation and implementation of plans to provide additional support to preparatory students and their families who need it, but maintains that preparatory students should be excepted from suspension and exclusion regimes.”

However, removing the suspension and expulsion options must come with resources for schools to support positive behaviour, the QHRC said.

Queensland Family and Child Commissioner Natalie Lewis said overuse of suspensions and exclusions did not address the root causes of “problem” behaviour but simply removed “the problem” from the classroom.

“Students denied essential learning opportunities can go on to experience poorer mental health outcomes and increased risk of entering the criminal justice system when they receive unnecessary suspensions and exclusions from school,” she said.

Research by the QUT Centre for Inclusive Education found changes made by the former Newman government in 2014 to remove the right to appeal against short suspensions interacted with other system reforms, including a reduction in the school starting age, resulting in a doubling and then tripling in the number of suspensions of children in prep.

However, other stakeholders opposed giving parents the rights to appeal against a short-term suspension – one to 10 days – if it meant their child would be suspended for 11 or more school days in a calendar year.

Queensland Association of State School Principals president Patrick Murphy said it would create an “administrative nightmare”, tying up principals and deputy principals in paperwork responding to appeals.

Murphy said less than 1 per cent of students in their seven years in primary school received a suspension.

Queensland Secondary Principals’ Association acting president Kirsten Ferdinands said principals, who were already overloaded and teaching classes because of staffing shortages, would be forced to respond to appeals after hours and on weekends.

“Enabling more options for appeal provides exposure to more abuse, harassment, vexatious allegations and violence by parents and carers,” she said.

“Whether it be a parent unhappy about a teacher their child has or how a sporting carnival is organised, a growing number of parents now more readily use and abuse above their justified right to ask questions.

“Enabling yet another layer of appeal to a principal’s decision-making is a further step towards the erosion of trust in principals and their ability to lead the school.”