{"id":751666,"date":"2026-06-21T22:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T22:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/751666\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T22:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T22:42:16","slug":"school-behaviour-and-suspensions-how-schools-like-wangaratta-high-are-reducing-disciplinary-action-through-positive-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/751666\/","title":{"rendered":"School behaviour and suspensions: How schools like Wangaratta High are reducing disciplinary action through positive culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

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About 150 students are suspended each school day in Victoria as experts urge principals to be brave enough to tackle problems differently.<\/p>\n

New data, obtained by The Age through freedom-of-information laws, shows the number of students suspended last year climbed to almost 30,000. In the past three years, there were 87,073 suspensions in Victorian public schools.<\/p>\n

\"InIn 2025, there were almost 30,000 school suspensions in Victorian schools.Image: Matt Willis<\/p>\n

There was an increase of 1029 suspensions in 2025 from the previous year, rising to 29,709 and representing almost 4.5 per cent of the student cohort.<\/p>\n

University of Melbourne associate professor Lisa McKay-Brown said the problematic figure showed \u201cwhat we\u2019re doing isn\u2019t as effective as we would hope it would be.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s certainly problematic that the suspension rate is not going down, and it probably aligns with the fact that attendance rates aren\u2019t improving in schools as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Grattan Institute think tank has called tackling absenteeism a moral imperative as Australian students on average missed 4\u00bd weeks of learning in 2025.<\/p>\n

The data also comes amid rising violence and harassment in schools<\/a>. National research led by Monash University into the toll on principals showed about 65 per cent of those surveyed had experienced a critical incident involving physical violence, threats of violence or gendered violence, sexual harassment or sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

This includes misogynistic behaviour from students directed at staff, physical fights between students and offensive parent behaviour.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrincipals are very concerned about student and staff wellbeing,\u201d McKay-Brown said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tricky balance for them because they\u2019ve got the right of the child or the young person to be at school, but also the safety of everybody else in the school.\u201d<\/p>\n

In June last year, the state government announced new principal powers<\/a> to suspend or expel students when their behaviour outside school or online put other students or staff at serious risk.<\/p>\n

\"MonashMonash University data shows violence and harassment in schools is on the rise.Janie Barrett<\/p>\n

At the time, Education Minister Ben Carroll said the strengthened powers made it clear that harmful behaviour had consequences, even if it was outside school hours.<\/p>\n

But former principal and chief executive of Real Schools Adam Voigt said the suspension rate was too high.<\/p>\n

He said that while suspensions could be an effective tool, he had concerns about attempts to solve a school culture problem with a political response. Without changing anything in schools, he said, there was a risk that it could become a vicious cycle.<\/p>\n

Voigt also cautioned that keeping students away could compound issues and problems could resurface when the student returned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we know is that when you suspend a kid, you increase the likelihood that they are suspended again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd secondly, we know that, in those increased numbers, there\u2019ll be a disproportionately high representation of kids who are low socio-economic, who are affected by trauma, or who have disabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re the ones we\u2019ve got to look after, and what we\u2019re effectively doing is, is [casting them out] from the place that can help them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In England, suspensions hit record levels after the COVID-19 pandemic. The Guardian reported<\/a> nearly 1 million suspensions in the 2023-24 school year.<\/p>\n

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But from this year, England\u2019s Education Department will reserve suspension for the most serious cases, including violence.<\/p>\n

Voigt urged authorities in Victoria to be brave and look at local success stories.<\/p>\n

There were schools, he said, that had flipped their suspensions, behavioural referrals and sanctions.<\/p>\n

Clarence High School, in Tasmania, had reduced suspensions dramatically, said Voigt, while Wangaratta High School had reduced disruptive behaviour and improved overall culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil we\u2019re brave enough to actually think about the problem differently, we\u2019re likely to have increasing numbers of student suspensions, increasing numbers of kids who are on a school-to-prison pathway, and we\u2019re going to have more community unrest as a result.\u201d <\/p>\n

Wangaratta High School principal Dave Armstrong said the school had focused on school-wide positive behaviour shifts, and believed in responsibility, accountability and ownership.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe language we use with our students is important. If we get that right, suspension falls away on its own,\u201d Armstrong said.<\/p>\n

He said the school\u2019s students felt known and safe, and worked together.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSuspensions are the last resort in that space. If we want to make [students] feel bad, then tell them how bad they are. Which is not what we do.<\/p>\n

\u201cA good school isn\u2019t one where nothing ever goes wrong. What we want to do is know how to handle that well: genuine relationships, boundaries and expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president of the Australian Principals Federation, Andrew Cock, said the rise in suspensions likely reflected a rise in antisocial behaviour, and the strengthened powers were justified.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen probably more department supports in place to allow our principals to suspend students for behaviour that is inappropriate or impacting the health and safety of others, or impacting the running of the school,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cock said the decision to suspend a student was never made lightly.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"Boomers<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is that schools are putting in many, many strategies to support students,\u201d he said. \u201cSuspension is never the first decision that\u2019s made.\u201d<\/p>\n

He conceded that for teenagers who tried to push boundaries, it was a challenging space.<\/p>\n

Parents Victoria chief executive Gail McHardy agreed that when student or staff safety was at risk, issuing a suspension was justified.<\/p>\n

However, she said reducing suspensions could be achieved with earlier support and intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernments need to ensure schools have access to specialist support, inclusion expertise, wellbeing staff and early intervention programs so that challenging behaviour can be addressed effectively and fairly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Carroll said students and staff should feel safe at school.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe make no apologies for giving principals the powers they need to enforce that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re backing principals with stronger powers to suspend students and ban adults who threaten the safety of school communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"NicoleNicole Precel<\/a> is an education reporter at The Age. She was previously an audio video producer. She is also a documentary maker. Get in touch at nicole.precel@theage.com.auConnect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.\"BridieBridie Smith<\/a> is an education reporter at The Age. A former desk editor, she has also reported on science and consumer affairs.Connect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-751666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}