NSW Education Minister calls for more school suspensions to stop troublemakers

The state’s education minister has called for a no-tolerance approach to school bullying and more suspensions so that troublemakers know there will be consequences for their actions.

The number of suspensions handed out at NSW schools has soared under Education Minister Prue Car, who has urged principals to use new powers to show the door to children who repeatedly engage in bullying behaviour, saying it would “send a message”.

A Minns government policy introduced from Term 1 this year raised the cap on the number of times principals could suspend students in kindergarten to Year 2 from five days to 30 days, and from 10 days to 45 days for students in Year 3 to Year 12.

Preliminary suspension data shows that policy is already having an impact, with 40,861 kids told to stay home from school in the first six months of 2024, compared to 59,814 students who were excluded across the whole of 2023.

Education Minister Prue Car has urged principals to use new powers to show the door to children who repeatedly engage in bullying behaviour. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Ms Car said it was important repeat trouble makers be “shown the door” out of classrooms.

“Our new behaviour and suspensions policy already covers bullying and cyberbullying, and schools shouldn’t hesitate to enforce it,” she said.

“Persistent offenders should be shown the door. I think we need to send a message that while you are entitled to a free education that comes with the responsibility of decent and respectful behaviour toward fellow students and staff.

“In the same way you’ll have your rights curtailed if you assault someone walking down the street, the same applies to our schools.

“In the government’s view, everyone has a right to education, but not at any cost. Not at the cost of all of the students around you.”

The comments have been welcomed by the father of 12-year-old Charlotte O’Brien who took her own life in September after a campaign of bullying at school and online.

“There needs to be an approach of no tolerance. If an issue is raised then the child should be sent home with parents for a couple of days to figure out if this is the right school community for them,” Mat O’Brien said.

“If they come back and it happens again then ‘you are out’. It needs to be that black and white, it’s that simple.

“And we have to remember that bullying comes in all forms, it’s not just physical – modern-day bullying is much more than that.

“You can have the greatest of policies in the world but if they sit on the website and are not implemented, that’s no good to anyone.”

Mat O’Brien with his daughter Charlotte.

Charlotte O’Brien, pictured with her baby brother, took her own life after being bullied at school.

Ms Car was a leading campaigner against efforts to limit how many times individual students could be suspended in a year, in the lead up to the last state election.

In an interview about bullying and anti-social behaviour, to coincide with the launch of The Sunday Telegraph’s “Charlotte’s Wish” documentary, Ms Car maintained her strong stance on suspensions and said she had no issue with even more being handed out.

“We certainly don’t mind seeing suspension rates rise,” she said.

“I would far rather higher rates of suspension and settled classrooms. The (former government’s) idea that you’d change a policy just to drive a number down and sacrifice the safety of our classrooms is just lunacy.

“At the end of the day, this isn’t just about behaviour, its about learning. Kids can’t learn and teachers can’t maintain settled classrooms if they can’t deal with the cause of disruption.

Rachael Murrihy is a clinical psychologist and director of The Kidman Centre at UTS and is an expert on bullying in schools.

She said all experts would agree there were “significant problems” with behaviour issues in schools and while suspensions might be one solution “we have to look wider than that”.

“The difficulty is there is not a one or two or three strikes and your out, every situation has to be judged on its own merit,” she said.

“If you look at who is being suspended we have a disproportionate number of children with autism or ADHD and I would say that points to the problem that teachers have inadequate training and support in the classroom in this area, to teach them how to manage behavioural issues.

“So yes, I would say suspensions are just one part of the solution.”