Parents Victoria CEO Gail McHardy is quoted in an article in the Age today, about the issue of school expulsions.
The article notes that 236 students were expelled from Victorian public schools in 2024 (the most recent data available). This was less than 2023, when there were over 266 expulsions.
Gail is quoted in the article as follows:
Gail McHardy, chief executive of non-profit group Parents Victoria, which represents and supports parents of state school children, noted individual statistics did not always reflect the whole story. “Any drop in student expulsions is always welcomed. It suggests efforts to reduce school exclusions may be having some effect,” she said…
McHardy said enrolment at another school did not address underlying issues that led to a child’s behaviour or affected their broader wellbeing. “Simply moving students from one school to another shifts the problem rather than resolving it,” she said.
“Education should be about support and inclusion, not simply removing students from mainstream environments without wrap-around support.”
For more information about school expulsions, (including research that questions the effectiveness of expulsion as a method of dealing with inappropriate behaviour) see the Parents Victoria website.
The article also covers the issue of “soft expulsions”, or suspensions – whereby a child is excluded from their school without going through the official expulsion process. These were acknowledged as an issue by the Victorian Ombudsman’s office in its 2017 Investigation into Victorian government school expulsions report.
Parents Victoria CEO Gail McHardy is quoted in an article in the Age today, about the issue of school expulsions.
The article notes that 236 students were expelled from Victorian public schools in 2024 (the most recent data available). This was less than 2023, when there were over 266 expulsions.
Gail is quoted in the article as follows:
For more information about school expulsions, (including research that questions the effectiveness of expulsion as a method of dealing with inappropriate behaviour) see the Parents Victoria website.
The article also covers the issue of “soft expulsions”, or suspensions – whereby a child is excluded from their school without going through the official expulsion process. These were acknowledged as an issue by the Victorian Ombudsman’s office in its 2017 Investigation into Victorian government school expulsions report.
Read the full article in the Age (subscription only)
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