Education stakeholders have leapt to the defence of Busselton Senior High School staff following critical comments made by a magistrate in Busselton Children’s Court about the handling of an assault in March.
On July 17, a 15-year-old was sentenced to four months’ detention for the assault, which involved the perpetrator stomping on the victim’s head.
Footage of the assault was captured on mobile phone and widely circulated.
Related content
In sentencing, Magistrate Brian Mahon was critical of how the school dealt with alleged bullying between the perpetrator and the victim in the 12 months prior to the incident, and the length of time it took for anyone to intervene in the assault.
However, Department of Education deputy director general of schools Stephen Baxter said there was no evidence the perpetrator was bullied prior to the violent March incident, and the school received no reports of this bullying.
“That short video clip of the incident didn’t reflect the full response to the situation. Other school staff arrived very quickly on the scene to assist and call for police and the ambulance,” he said.
He said while many public school teachers had already completed training in effective ways to manage student behaviour, the department continued to roll out training around the state.
Education Minister Sue Ellery said the incident was particularly confronting and the footage had prompted the review of the existing policies and procedures in place in WA public schools.
“I asked the Department of Education to consult with all stakeholders to review the existing policies relating to the prevention of, and response to, incidents of violence in schools,” she said.
“The idea behind the review is to identify any potential gaps where we can make it easier on schools to respond to violence and investigate what else can be done in terms of prevention.
“That consultation is going well and we are receiving valuable contributions.”
She said teachers had a duty of care obligation to their students, as well as an obligation to keep themselves safe.
“They have to get balance right and that will depend entirely on the circumstances of the situation,” she said.
“I want to ensure we have the training, the support and the right policies in place to enable school staff to make those judgements. This is forming part of the review.”
In May, the school again made headlines when a deputy principal was taken to hospital for medical treatment after an assault at the hands of a student.
In a separate incident on the same day, a different student attempted to physically hurt another staff member.
Related content
State School Teachers’ Union of WA president Pat Byrne said the union did not believe teachers were sufficiently equipped to deal with bullying and violence in WA schools.
“In 2014, an auditor general report into behavioural management in schools recognised there had been a 30 per cent budget cut to behaviour management funding across the board,” she said.
“Since that time, no additional funding has been allocated to schools for this purpose.
“That lack of funding translates to a loss of programs, staff that are dedicated to dealing with student behavioural management and a loss of ongoing professional learning for teachers.”
Ms Byrne said the Department of Education’s in-depth investigation, which looked at all aspects of the incident, found the staff involved were not at fault.
“The sentencing remarks presented by the magistrate illustrates the complexity of issues staff face under these circumstances and highlights the problems of making judgements based on a short mobile phone video,” she said.
“There is a degree of uncertainty among teachers about what is a reasonable action that can be taken to intervene.
“State School Teachers’ Union of WA is currently in the process of seeking greater clarity around this and look forward to working with the state government to ensure both students and teachers are protected in these circumstances.”
MLA CALLS FOR SUPPORT SERVICES
Vasse MLA Libby Mettam said the incident was not reflective of the school’s community, including both teachers and students, and could have been avoided if problem students had access to wrap-around support services.
“I have repeatedly called for both a Youth Crime Intervention Officer, through the Department of Police, together with more access to the Bunbury-based School of Special Educational Needs: Behaviour and Engagement,” she said.
“Both of these services have the potential to dramatically assist these troubled students and give teachers the opportunity to get on with teaching.
“Unfortunately, whilst resources are allocated to the South West region, it is clear there is a disproportionate focus on Bunbury at the expense of schools in the Vasse region.”
WHAT IS BULLYING?
A Department spokesperson said Busselton Senior High School used the definition of bullying that was outlined at a national level for schools around Australia.
“Bullying is an ongoing misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that causes physical and/or psychological harm,” they said.
“It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power over one or more persons. Bullying can happen in person or online, and it can be obvious (overt) or hidden (covert).”
The spokesperson said since the March incident and the other matter in early May, there had been a very small number of incidents.
“(These incidents) could be characterised as serious one-off incidents of aggression or causing a disturbance, and these were all dealt with by school staff at the time they occurred,” they said.
“These incidents were not classed as bullying.
“There have been no serious incidents since late June this year.”
SCHOOL’S POSITIVE PROGRESS
In May, Busselton Senior High School opened its doors in an effort to forge an education partnership with parents.
Around 50 parents attended the two Community Parent Forums, which also detailed Education Department policy, the day-in-the-life of a student and discussed the school’s strategy to improve student outcomes through positive behaviour management.
At the time, principal Dainon Couzic, who hosted the forums, said the violence issues related to a very small minority of students.
“While a lot of people have seen those confronting videos, what they haven’t seen is the amazing work happening every day at our school,” he said.
“We’re a positive behaviour support school so we have a lot of programs and interventions in place to match the kids’ needs.
“We also teach the kids explicitly the expectations and the values that we expect, such as respect and empathy. We went through that at the meetings and spoke to parents about what we do have in place to support students to behave well.”
Related content