Extract from Hansard Legislative Council 4 October 2001
Mike Elliott Leader Australian Democrats Member of the Legislative Council		Parliament Index 2001 Spring Sitting Index Browse by Subject   Search all Democrats material About the SA Parliament Hansard on line

The Hon. M.J. ELLIOTT: I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Treasurer, representing the Minister for Education, a question in relation to suspensions in schools.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.J. ELLIOTT: I refer to an article in the Australian of 14 June on page 3. It is a report on the findings of research that more than 100 000 children were banned from public and private schools nationally last year. The research found that school suspension was linked to juvenile crime, reporting that 80 per cent of children in detention centres were suspended from school during their education. It also found that last year average suspensions grew to be one child a class nationally, and that in New South Wales there was a 15 per cent increase in school suspensions over the previous 12 months. The chief researcher, psychologist David West, commented on the findings of the study. He said:

. . . suspension is being used as the first response in schools, instead of the last. It is being used to cover up problems for students which could be better solved by managing them in school.

I note that there are no statistics in relation to South Australia in the article. My questions are:

1. How many students were suspended in South Australian public schools last year, and how does that compare with the suspension rates of previous years?

2. How does South Australia compare with the national average?

3. What strategies does the state government have in place to help teachers deal with problems in classrooms, given that this research shows that where there are fewer suspensions there is an increase in retention rates and reduced juvenile crime?

4. Why will the state government not commit to providing a school counsellor in every South Australian primary school so that counselling can be used as one of the routes to handle behaviour?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer): I will refer the honourable member's question to the minister and bring back a reply.

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