Children as young as five are being expelled for violence against teachers, students

Shocking new data reveals Queensland children as young as five are being expelled for violence against teachers and peers amid a “fight club culture”, alongside the huge number of kids vaping. See the statistics.

Queensland state school students as young as five are being kicked out of school for classroom violence against peers and teachers, part of hundreds of disciplinary actions enforced per day.

The latest state government data has revealed there were 78,026 school disciplinary absences (SDAs) handed out in 2022, a decrease of about 5000 compared to 2021.

There were nearly 8000 absences for drug-related incidents, largely due to vaping, while hundreds of students were disciplined for bringing weapons to school.

Several state schools on the Sunshine Coast, Logan, Ipswich and Kingaroy last year were also gripped by a “fight club” culture, all promoted on social media.

The overall drop in numbers followed a push from the Department of Education to address the issue of high SDA rates among the state’s youngest students.

Twenty pupils in Years 1, 2 and 3 were excluded from their school last year – mostly for physical violence. It included a Year 1 student being excluded for violence against an adult, while another Year 1 student was excluded for violence towards another child.

Queensland preppies were also disciplined heavily last year with a total of 685 absences – either short or long suspensions – which was a sharp decrease from 2021 numbers of 1077.

Queensland Association of State School Principals president Pat Murphy said it was extremely rare for principals to exclude Year 1 students.

Mr Murphy said principals used suspensions and exclusions as a last resort and would use several strategies prior – such as working with the student, teachers and parents.

“Exclusions are for really serious, probably physical acts of violence, mostly against students,” Mr Murphy said.

“Sometimes it’s repeated targeted behaviour, really significant destroying of property, often that continual behaviour. It’s about making the whole classroom safe.”

Education Minister Grace Grace remains “deeply concerned” by an over-representation of absences among certain cohorts. She said more needed to be done to address it.

“The best place for kids to learn is in the classroom and we continue to implement policies – such a free kindy – to ensure our kids have the best start at life,” Ms Grace said.

“However, I want to be very clear: I have never, and will never, expect teachers or students to work or learn in unsafe environments, and any behaviour that puts that at risk should not be tolerated and should be dealt with accordingly.”

MP Grace Grace said she remained concerned about an over-representative of suspensions among certain cohorts. Photo: Steve Pohlner

Ms Grace said the changing of data across years was likely attributed to decisions made at school level and the extra support provided centrally such as its wellbeing program.

“For example, principals maintaining a hard stance against more severe student behaviour while taking a different approach to less disruptive behaviour could be a contributing factor,” Ms Grace said.

Opposition education spokesman Dr Christian Rowan accused the state government of “manipulating the data to solve a political problem rather than address the root cause of behavioural issues”.

“There are important questions as to whether the state government’s student disciplinary statistics are a true reflection of what is happening in our schools, given we know that school principals have been contacted by the Department of Education, who are questioning student suspension and expulsion decisions,” Dr Rowan said.

“These latest statistics certainly highlight the government’s failure to address skyrocketing vaping and substance misuse in Queensland schools.”

Ms Grace slammed Dr Rowan’s suggestion as “outrageous”.

“If he has any evidence of this, he should share it immediately. If not, he should stop smearing the hardworking teachers and public servants that record and collate these statistics,” she said.