- New 'Connect
and Respect' resources to support schools to prevent and respond to aggressive
behaviour and violence
- Strengthened
support and escalation guidelines for principals to manage individuals who are
harassing, abusive, threatening or violent
- Creation
of a support line and dedicated email to help schools manage the escalation
process
- Awareness
campaign includes targeted digital material to start 18 July
The Cook Government is strengthening its support for schools to protect teachers,
all school staff and students from violent behaviour.
Education Minister Dr Tony Buti today released an updated action plan, Standing
Together Against Violence, with additional support and resources for public
schools to prevent and respond to violent, aggressive or threatening behaviour.
The plan builds on previous initiatives and creates greater understanding of the roles and responsibilities of all
stakeholders in the school community to counter violence.
The plan includes:
- Connect
and Respect resources to assist schools prevent and respond to aggressive
behaviour and violence;
- clear expectations
of roles and responsibilities of all members of the school community;
- supporting
principals to remove aggressive people from school sites. This includes issuing prohibition orders with the support
of the Department's legal team;
- engagement
guidelines to highlight what
parents and carers can expect from schools when it comes to communication and providing
respectful and productive feedback;
- a dedicated
email and phone support line to help principals respond to violence and manage
the escalation process; and
- additional
training, including post incident follow-up, to help schools manage students
with complex and challenging behaviours.
The additional resources as part of the 10-point action plan strengthens
and builds on the Government's focus to provide quality education to all
students and keep our schools as safe places for learning.
Actions include suspending students for initiating, promoting, and
sharing acts of violence via social media, automatically commencing the exclusion
process for any student who physically attacks school staff, working closer
with Western Australia Police and giving students a voice to suggest anti-violence
solutions.
To assist with responding to students who require intensive behaviour
support, the State Government has increased the number of Alternative Learning Settings
from 3 to 12 sites which are now based across the State in each education region.
Comments attributed to
Education Minister Tony Buti:
"We need to ensure our schools are safe places for learning and protect our
teaching staff in their workplace from any form of violence.
"Schools cannot solve this on their own. The full support of parents,
carers and the wider school community is needed to address the issue of
violence.
"This updated 10-point plan provides additional resources and guidance
to assist schools prevent and respond to aggressive and violence behaviour.
"Student behaviour is strongly influenced by the way adults conduct
themselves. This plan focuses on engagement and encouraging everyone in the school
community to play their part, lead by example and contribute to a culture that
doesn't tolerate any form of violence.
"Fundamentally, our schools are a reflection of our local communities.
We all share a personal responsibility of how to behave in the community and we equally need to
demonstrate the same level of respect and caring in our schools.
"Building trusting and transparent relationships between schools and
families is key to preventing school violence. This package strengthens these
partnerships and sharing the responsibility of keeping our schools safe."
