The long-awaited Student Behaviour Strategy is ready for your feedback.

Check for the email from the Dep Sec team sent on Thursday morning. Your Student Wellbeing Reference Group, chaired by Helen Craigie, has been attending meetings, forums and workshops and providing input to this review since 2017.

Why a new strategy? In 2017, a NSW Ombudsman’s Inquiry and the NSW DoE’s Ed Services Review provided information to strengthen support for student behaviour to NSW public schools. The Ombudsman’s proposals for behaviour management reform focussed on enhancing responses to students requiring targeted or individualised intervention and strengthening system-level processes to identify and respond to behaviour concerns. It also proposed schools adopt a tiered or whole-school, prevention-focussed approach to address the full spectrum of student behaviour needs including prevention, early intervention for ‘at risk’ students and individual targeted intervention for students with complex and challenging behaviour needs.

It also proposed actions to support the implementation of these reforms including access to capacity building expertise for principals, and data systems for identifying and tracking student progress and outcomes.

The report, Strengthening school and system capacity to implement effective interventions to support student behaviour and wellbeing in NSW public schools: An evidence review; undertaken by esteemed Australian academic, Professor Donna Cross provides the foundation for the consultation draft.

The Student Behaviour Strategy document attached to the DoE email outlines the broad principles and highlight some key changes including changes to suspension and the employment of specialist staff with behaviour expertise to support us to manage complex and challenging behaviours as well as whole of school approaches.

• Key Reform Direction 1 - outlines the proposed changes to suspensions and the inclusion of an approved in-school suspension option.
• Key Reform Direction 2 - outlines the proposal for the support for complex behaviours from specialist staff
• Key Reform Direction 3 - focuses on capacity building and PL

Points of agreement with Secondary Principals Council include:

• Many of the draft documents are too wordy and are difficult to navigate easily.
• Too many lengthy checklists and student support documents creating an admin burden
• Instructional Leaders – Wellbeing could support schools with high needs and complex behaviours.
• All support units in mainstream schools should have a non-teaching DP with 7 or more classes.
• Student support person requirements in the draft strategy are unworkable and impractical.
• A Health and Safety approach to managing suspensions where staff and student safety is at risk must be incorporated into policy.

We encourage you all to participate in the consultation period, which is open until 25 September 2020. Provide feedback at Behaviour.Strategy@det.nsw.edu.au

Helen Craigie – Chair Student Wellbeing Reference Group Trish Peters – SWRG Exec Liaison