- 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.
As stated by 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 personalresponsibility 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."
