1680. Hon Alison Xamon to the Minister for Education and Training:
I refer to the physical restraint of students, and I ask:
(a) are schools required to record all instances of the physical restraint of students by school staff;
(b) if no to (a), why not;
(c) if yes to (a), which specific details are required to be recorded;
(d) if yes to (a), please advise the number of occasions students were physically restrained by school staff in:
(i) 2015;
(ii) 2016;
(iii) 2017; and
(iv) 2018 to date;
(e) please advise the number of individual students who were physically restrained by school staff in:
(i) 2015;
(ii) 2016;
(iii) 2017; and
(iv) 2018 to date; and
(f) please list, by school, the number of occasions students with disability were physically restrained by school staff in:
(i) 2015;
(ii) 2016;
(iii) 2017; and
(iv) 2018 to date?
Hon Sue Ellery replied:
Regulation 38 under the School Education Regulations 2000 sets out staff members’ powers to manage students. The regulation states:
A member of staff of a government school may, in the performance of the person’s functions, take such action, including physical contact with a student or a student’s property, as is reasonable –
To manage or care for a student;
or To maintain or re-establish order;
or To prevent or restrain a person from –
Placing at risk the safety of any person; or
Damaging any property.
The Department’s online incident notification system captures when a restraint is applied across the following incident types:
Physical Assault, Intimidating/Threatening Behaviour, Contact
Believed Suicidal Behaviour or Non-Suicidal Self-injury
Verbal or Cyber Threat and/or Comment
Disruptive Conduct
(a) Yes.
(b) Not applicable.
(c) Details required to be recorded are:
date, time, location and duration of the physical restraint;
name of student and name(s) of the staff member(s) involved;
reason for the physical restraint;
alternative strategies attempted prior to the application of physical restraint; brief detail of the follow-up support provided;
detail of contact with the parent/carer;
a statement by the staff member/s involved; and
whenever possible, a statement by the student involved.
(d)
|
Year |
Number of incidents |
|
2015 |
230 |
|
2016 |
1 009 |
|
2017 |
1 317 |
|
2018 (9 October 2018) |
879 |
Note 1: Each occasion equates to a separate incident of restraint of an individual student
Note 2: Improved restraint questioning implemented within the incident reporting system for start of 2016, as per the Student Behaviour policy and procedures.
(e)
| Year |
Number of incidents |
|
2015 |
62 |
|
2016 |
236 |
|
2017 |
817 |
|
2018 (9 October 2018) |
467 |
Note 1: Each occasion equates to a separate incident of restraint of an individual student
Note 2: Improved restraint questioning implemented within the incident reporting system for startof 2016 as per the Student Behaviour policy and procedures.
(f) [See tabled paper no 2157 - Hon Alison Xamon — QON No. 1680 — List by school, the number of times students with a disability were physically restrained by school staff in 2015-2016 and 2017 to date.]