Preventing Exclusion
Keeping students at school
EDC4000 Social Justice Presentation
Melinda Chandler ~ June 2013
Social justice – what & why?
• Equity, equality  fair for ALL people.
• Identifying and preventing negative
discrimination
• Individual and organisation responsibility
• Teachers are influential
• Ensure a fair education for all students
• Educate about social justice issues
Exclusion….a Social Justice Issue
• Negative long-term impact
• Impacts the individual AND society as a whole
• 30% of young people in detention were
excluded from school
“There is strong anecdotal evidence to
suggest that substantial proportion of youth
offending starts with exclusion from school.”
Australian Law Reform Commission
Exclusion - Affect on teaching
• Disruptive to teaching
• Inappropriate behaviour
• Post-suspension re-enter process
• Guided by AITSL standards
• Driver: equity of access to education
• Standard 1 – full participation
• Standard 3 – planning for varying abilities
• Standard 4 – inclusion & managing challenging
behaviour
Review of literature
• Statistics
• 15,000 exclusions from 2010 to 2012
• 43% of those are primary school students
• Opinions are divided
• Expert opinion versus other opinion
Opinions - Experts
• Belonging: one of the five basic human needs
• Exclusion erodes sense of belonging
• Students seek out where they can belong
• Antisocial group (aka gangs, ‘bad kids’, ‘wrong crowd’)
• Schools emphasise grades, scores, competition, individual success
• Power , compliance & control – bad environments
• Embrace a ‘pedagogy of belonging’
• Actively involve students in school and community
• Promote social cooperation & social responsibility
Maslow (1971), Glasser (1986), Long (1997), Beck & Malley (1998)
Opinions - others
• EQ – last resort to protect everyone’s rights
• Justification for excluding students given by school systems…
• Uphold the rights of the ‘other’ students
• Protect students and staff from physical harm
• Set a precedence
• Quick response with a clear message
• Put students back on-track.
• Community & political response
• Schools need more power to control students with unacceptable
behaviour
• Tough, zero tolerance approach
• Bring back the cane!
Tucker (2013), Education Queensland (2012), Courier Mail (2009)
Key features of approaches
• Provide a safe and supported environment for everyone
• Adopt a ‘pedagogy of belonging’
•
•
•
•
•
Genuinely belief that belonging is vital
Positive teacher-student relationship
Involve students in the school and classroom
Create a capacity for teamwork and collaboration
Explicit teaching of social responsibility
Plan – pedagogy of belonging
• Get to know my students
•
•
•
•
Construct personal narrative to create connections
Conference with students
Learning styles and preferences
Being reliable & trustworthy
• Involve students in classroom decision making
• Setting classroom rules & consequences
• Negotiate curriculum;
• Options for class reward program.
Social
responsibility
Involvement
in decision
making
Teacher-student
relationship
Plan – pedagogy of belonging
• Connect and assume responsibility in the community
•
•
•
•
Embedding & explicitly teaching group work strategies
Negotiating and setting group goals
Recognising group work achievement
Facilitating wider school collaboration opportunities
• Peer tutoring program
• “Buddies” program
Social
responsibility
• Success -> no exclusions!
Involvement
in decision
making
Teacher-student
relationship
Key personnel
•
•
•
•
Parents & carers
Other teaching staff
Guidance officers
School administration
Critical analysis – S.W.O.T
Strengths
• Good for all
students
• Inclusive
approach
• Uses existing
policies & skills
eg. ESCM
• Involves others
in school
community
• Doesn’t ‘cost’
anything
Weaknesses
Opportunities
• Takes time to
implement, ie
finding time in
the day to do
explicit teaching
• Relies on others
to help
implement
• Whole-of-school
approach
• Connection with
wider
community
Threats
• Some students
may have
already
disengaged
beyond the
point of my
influence.
• Not whole-ofschool focus.
• Pro-exclusion
community
• Student
reputation
• May not get
support from
parents/carers
Personal reflection
• Use of the action research cycle
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Identify something needing improvement
Research
Plan
Implement
Reflect
Return to step 1
• Teachers influence beliefs, opinions and actions.
Thank you
“We now understand that higher-level thinking is more
likely to occur in the brain of a student who is
emotionally secure than in the brain of a student who is
scared, upset, anxious, or stressed.”
― Mawhinney and Sagan (2007)
References
Australian Government. (2010). Australian Law Reform Commission report: Seen and heard: priority for
children in the legal process [website]. Retrieved June 1, 2013, from
http://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/seen-and-heard-priority-children-legal-process-alrc-report84/10-children-education
Beck, M., Malley, J. (1998). A pedagogy of belonging. Reclaiming children and youth, Vol. 7, p133-137.
Courier Mail. (2009). School principals win right to expel problem students [newspaper article].
Retrieved June 4, 2013 from http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/school-principalswin-right-to-expel-problem-students/comments-e6freoof-1225811544736
Mazerolle, P., Sanderson, J. (2008). Understanding remand in the juvenile justice system in Queensland
[PDF]. Retrieved June 1, 2013, from
http://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/338110/understanding-remand-in-thejuvenile-justice-system.pdf
Queensland Government. (2012). School disciplinary absences [webpage]. Retrieved June 3, 2013 from
http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/advantages-disadvantages-expelling-disruptive-students-school6027.html
Queensland Government. (2013). Queensland government data: school disciplinary absences
[database]. Retrieved June 2, 2013 from https://data.qld.gov.au/dataset/school-disciplinaryabsences/resource/47d1e40b-8483-4e82-849a-6b18c790e269
Tucker, K. (2013). The advantages and disadvantages of expelling disruptive students from school.
Retrieved June 3, 2013 from http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/advantages-disadvantages-expellingdisruptive-students-school-6027.html