Behaviour funding ‘too little, too late’

21 February 2007

Behaviour funding ‘too little, too late’

The Government’s $4.5 million interim response fund is unlikely to address the array of problems caused by disruptive student behaviour, PPTA president Robin Duff said today.

Mr Duff said that while any money to help schools deal with behavioural issues was welcome, the interim response fund appeared like an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff and had all the worst aspects of short term-ism.

“The fact that schools have to compete for this fund to deal with behavioural issues that may have already become entrenched will not fill secondary teachers with confidence.”

PPTA last year called on the Government to dramatically improve resourcing for schools to deal with difficult students, through increased pastoral care staffing, programmes such as restorative justice and through more funding for alternative education.

Mr Duff said school pastoral care networks were already under severe strain.

“Schools need much more support from social agencies to deal with the range of behavioural issues students bring to school.

“They would also benefit from more operations funding to employ more ancillary staff such as teacher aides and run programmes such as restorative justice, and from more guidance staffing to ease the pressure on already overworked guidance counsellors.

“For some students whose behaviour makes it dangerous to keep them in school, quality alternative education – which is currently grossly under-funded, must also be available.”

Mr Duff said that large class sizes were another barrier to addressing behavioural issues, and to effective teaching. He said the Government had an ideal opportunity to reduce class sizes, simply by holding teacher numbers at current levels, because school rolls would begin to fall from next year.

“Secondary teachers say that large class sizes make it more difficult for teachers to focus on each student and to personalise learning. We know that many struggling students, let alone those with behavioural issues, would benefit from smaller class sizes.

“Secondary teachers support the Government’s goal to personalise learning but we can’t do it without support and funding.”

ENDS

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