Children’s involvement in legal processes at school

Introduction

2.45 Often the first occasion for children to become involved with or to appear to be at risk of involvement with legal processes arises at school.^[119] This involvement or risk of involvement may be evidenced by a failure to attend school. Children may not attend school for a number of reasons. They may truant on certain days or leave school altogether before completing their education.^[120] They may face barriers to attending school, such as cost, need to work or inadequate facilities.^[121] They may be suspended or excluded from participating in education due to their misbehaviour in school. Children in the last category, those suspended or excluded from school, are formally involved in the education system’s legal process.

Truancy

2.46 School attendance data across Australia generally are poor. Available data indicate that truancy rates may vary from 8% to 19% between States and Territories.^[122] In NSW approximately 11 000 students are estimated to truant from school on any given day.^[123]

Disciplinary actions: suspension and exclusion from school

2.47 Data relating to suspensions, exclusions and expulsions in Australian schools also are limited, although some States have made an effort to collect such data.^[124] For example, in NSW there were a total of 29 478 suspensions and 276 exclusions of public school students in 1995.^[125] The number of suspensions constituted an increase of 17% over 1994,^[126] which in turn was a 50% increase from 1993.^[127] Boys in Years 7 to 9 accounted for over 40% of all suspensions yet constituted only about 10% of government school students in NSW.^[128] Overall, boys made up 80% of secondary and 90% of primary school suspensions.^[129] Indigenous students were also over-represented: they accounted for 12% of all suspensions despite forming only 3% of the student population.^[130]

2.48 In Western Australia, 12 662 suspension notices were handed out and 55 students were expelled from State schools in the 18 months from January 1996 to June 1997, with boys constituting the majority (80%) of children suspended.^[131] In the Northern Territory, 1 164 students were suspended between 1992 and 1994.^[132] In 1994, 1 137 students of compulsory school age were suspended in Tasmania.^[133] In Queensland, from 200 to 1000 students are suspended each month.^[134] In 1994, of 872 students suspended with a recommendation for exclusion in Queensland, nearly half were subsequently excluded.^[135]