New behaviour advisors, statewide ’respect awards’ to tackle disturbing rise in school bullying

Public, independent and Catholic schools have agreed to create a brand new job for all schools statewide, as part of a bid to curb growing bullying and abuse.

A statewide behaviour expert is being brought in by the government to pull school students into line after a disturbing rise in bullying, racism, misogyny and vile sexual discussions.

Public, independent and Catholic schools have signed a cross-sector agreement to hire a NSW Chief Behaviour Advisor in a desperate to bid to lift behaviour standards across all schools.

The number of behaviour specialists in public schools will also be ramped up from 70 to 200 across the state while a new “Premier’s Respect Award” will be handed out in every school to recognise children doing the right thing.

The government intervention comes after The Daily Telegraph revealed a spate of concerning incidents in elite schools including Knox Grammar, where students discussed sexual assault and glorified the Holocaust in a disturbing online chat room.

At prestigious Cranbrook School in Bellevue Hill, parents and students reported horrific incidents of anti-Semitism.

Students at Knox Grammar were running a vile online chat room. Picture: Supplied

Premier Dominic Perrottet said the radical move was urgently needed.

“We want our students to succeed by providing them with the best education from the best teachers, but that simply can’t happen if students don’t also strive to put their best foot forward, when it comes to behaviour at school,” Mr Perrottet said.

“Teachers across school sectors have told us they want greater support for dealing with disruptive students and that’s why we’re introducing the role of NSW Chief Behaviour Advisor to lead on best practice for improving and maintaining respectful student behaviour.”

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the new initiatives will help tackle one of the biggest issues facing students, parents and teachers – social media.

“The boost to the number of Behaviour Specialists will mean more schools will benefit from these experts who can provide advice to teachers, co-ordinate resources and build the capacity of schools to manage challenging and complex student behaviour,” she said.

“Our overall approach will help embed our recent inclusive, engaging and respectful schools reforms in public schools, and share best practice across systems so that all schools can adopt strategies that have been proven to work well.”

Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell, Premier Dominic Perrottet and Robyn Evans President of NSW Primary Principals Association. Picture: Monique Harmer

Catholic Schools NSW chief executive Dallas McInerney welcomed the cross-sector support.

“There are great things happening in our schools every day and these awards will give respectful behaviour the same high regard and prestige as academic achievement,” he said.

“The introduction of the NSW Chief Behaviour Advisor also recognises that proactively addressing student behaviour can make an enormous contribution to improving student learning outcomes and promoting a positive learning environment.”

Association of independent Schools chief executive Dr Geoff Newcombe added: “To tackle these issues head on, we need a strong, cross-sector approach which supports schools to hold students to a high standard.”

The government will begin recruiting globally for the chief advisor role next month when nominations for the respect awards will also open.