LawSense Managing Student Behaviour & Discipline – NSW State Schools

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Program

12.00    LawSense Welcome

12.05    Chairperson’s Remarks

Melanie Meers, Principal, Anson Street School; SPC Reference Group Leader, Inclusion & Wellbeing

Jennifer Lawrence, Relieving Principal, Warilla High School; SPC Reference Group Leader, Inclusion & Wellbeing

Lila Mularczyk OAM, Education Consultant; former Director, Secondary Education, NSW Department of Education; Past President, NSW Secondary Principals’ Council

12.10    Examining the Impacts of Recent Psychosocial Hazards Laws on Managing Student Behaviour

• Outlining the recent changes to WHS regulation affecting schools including:
  • examining what is a psychosocial hazard and whether student behaviours can create a psychosocial hazard
  • how to manage psychosocial hazards, including hazards arising from student behaviour
  • examining difficult scenarios – alleged student sexual harassment of teachers
• Meeting your obligation to introduce, maintain and review control measures to minimise psychosocial risks arising from the management of student behaviour
• How your obligation to manage psychosocial risks can impact on how you manage difficult student behaviour

Christa Lenard, Partner, Kingston Reid

1.10      Break

1.20      Student Bullying and Cyber-Bullying: Navigating the Impacts of Recent Cases Against DoE and Implications of Social Media Age Limits

Student Bullying – Outlining Key Obligations

• Outlining key obligations – duty of care, WHS and psychosocial risks

Recent cases against DoE

• Understanding the implications of recent cases against DoE, including T2 (by his tutor T1) v State of New South Wales [2024] NSWSC 1347

Managing Bullying in a Risk Mitigation Framework

• Implementing proactive age-appropriate programs
• Managing documentation and information systems
• Using risk assessments to support decision making

Responding to Parent Complaints, Investigations

• Exploring best practice in responding to parent complaints or concerns
• Examining key aspects to consider in an effective investigation

Scope of Obligations – Before and After School

• Before and After School –Bus/Train Stops and Other Scenarios – understanding the extent of your liability in monitoring student transport and activity before and after school, including learnings from recent cases

Social Media, Including Implications of Proposed Age Restriction Laws

• Understanding the extent of a school’s obligations where student bullying occurs on social media, including:
  • understanding the impacts of new proposed aged restrictions on the school’s obligations and monitoring
  • assessing when social media activity outside school can increase legal risk and evolve into a situation a school should actively manage
  • examining the extent of a school’s rights and obligations to manage or respond to students on social media outside school
  • understanding duties where the bullying is from a student not from the school

Leighton Hawkes, Principal, McCabes Lawyers

2.20      Break

2.30      Students with a Disability Affecting Behaviour: Navigating, Rights, Obligations, Suspensions and Expulsions

Key Laws and Royal Commission

• Outlining key laws applying to disciplining students with a disability:
  • discrimination law
  • Disability Standards for Education
  • laws applying to restrictive practices
  • duty of care to other students
  • employment laws
  • privacy laws
• Balancing the rights and obligations to staff versus obligations regarding student discrimination, duty of care and behaviour
• Understanding the rights and responsibilities of the school versus health experts to determine what the student requires to meet the diagnosis or disability

Risk Assessments, Reasonable Adjustments and Managing Behaviour Support Resources

• Exploring the range of disabilities encountered by schools impacting behaviour or causing significant impacts of students
• Reasonable adjustments:
  • how should schools approach determining the limits of reasonable adjustments required in each circumstance?
  • balancing impacts on other students and staff, including teacher workload
  • managing differences in views between experts, parents and the student about adjustments
  • dealing with dis-engaged parents or carers
  • managing experts: responding to experts, briefing, and managing school experts
• Developing and managing effective risk assessments
• Planning conversations with parents, carers or experts in challenging matters
• Documenting steps and decision making regarding reasonable adjustments to ensure compliance and optimise your legal position

Restrictive Practices

• Exploring case studies, examples and grey areas of what behaviour management can amount to restrictive practices under current laws

Suspensions and Expulsions of Students with a Behavioural Disability

• Examining rights and obligations of schools to suspend and expel students pursuant to current laws and policy
• Understanding how having a student with a behavioural disability affects your approach to and management of suspensions and expulsions
• Navigating key considerations, steps and pitfalls in suspensions and expulsions that comply with law and DoE policy

Tim McDonald, Principal, McCabes Lawyers

DoE and Behaviour Support

• Outlining options for Behaviour Support assistance within DoE schools
• Working with DoE behaviour support resources. What steps should you take if you consider the behaviour support is not working or should be changed?

Alternative Placements

• Understanding and navigating applications for alternative placement of students with a behavioural disability
• Optimising applications and assessing options where an alternative placement is not provided

Melanie Meers, Principal, Anson Street School; SPC Reference Group Leader, Inclusion & Wellbeing

Jennifer Lawrence, Relieving Principal, Warilla High School; SPC Reference Group Leader, Inclusion & Wellbeing

3.50      Closing Remarks

3.55      Webinar Close

Presenters / panelists include:

	Lila Mularczyk Lila Mularczyk was Principal at Merrylands High School for 15 years. She was the President of the NSW Secondary Principals’ Council (SPC) and Director of Secondary Education. Lila currently works with principals, the DoE, and universities.
	Christa Lenard is a workplace relations and employment lawyer with extensive experience in advising public sector departments and agencies at both Commonwealth and state level, as well as large and medium private sector companies.
	Leighton Hawkes commenced his career in claims management and other technical roles with a major Australian insurance, working on claims for the NSW Treasury Managed Fund (TMF). Leighton has acted for the NSW Department of Education for a significant number of years. Presently he acts in a diverse range of matters, including claims arising from public liability, property damage to NSW schools, historical sexual abuse, discrimination (employee and disability), and Coronial enquiries.
	Tim McDonald practises in employment and industrial law, work health and safety, discrimination, bullying and harassment, management of injured workers and termination of employment. Over the last 20 years, Tim has advised and represented private and public sector employers, including schools and higher education.
	Melanie Meers is currently the Principal of Anson Street School in Orange, one of the largest public schools for children and young people with diverse learning needs in NSW. Leading a staff of more than 100, Melanie is a passionate and dedicated educational leader. Across a career spanning nearly 40 years, Melanie has worked in a number of educational positions including teacher; behaviour, literacy and disability consultant; NESA Liaison Officer; Director; and for the last 10 years as Principal.
	Jennifer Lawrence is an educational leader with 30 years of experiences in NSW public schools, with most of this time serving in South-Western Sydney. She has been principal of Elderslie High School for 7 years and has recently commenced at Warilla High School in the role of Relieving Principal. Jennifer is a member of the Secondary Principals Council and is the co-chair of the Student Wellbeing and Inclusion Reference Group for secondary principals in NSW public schools. Within this role, she liaises with the Department on matters of inclusion and disability support and provides the voice of secondary colleagues and their schools in consultation processes.

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