ACT's plan to let teachers use "reasonable force" to remove disruptive students has ignited debate over classroom behaviour, with leader David Seymour calling it a fix for the country's worst-in-the-developed-world classrooms and the union branding it "a solution looking for a problem".
The policy, announced on Sunday, would extend teachers' powers under the Education and Training Act and allow fines of up to $3000 for parents who refuse to engage with schools over their child's behaviour.
Seymour told Breakfast current rules forced teachers to evacuate whole classes rather than restrain one student and that the policy would extend section 99 of the Education Act — which already permits reasonable force to stop a student harming themselves or others — to cover damage to school property.
"Right now, and this actually happens, a student throws a wobbly, and they have to take all the other children out of the class, stop their learning, because they're not allowed to restrain that child," he said.
"This is crazy, and this is a very good example of how our society has coddled itself in stupid rules."
PPTA president Chris Abercrombie says teachers don't want powers to physically remove disruptive students, calling the ACT policy "a solution looking for a problem". (Source: Breakfast)
PPTA president Chris Abercrombie said the law was already clear on when teachers could restrain a student, with the extreme behaviour described being rare.
"In my 20 year career, I've had two students refuse to leave the classroom when asked, so it's not the level that they're talking about," he told Breakfast.
"I've no idea why they think teachers manhandling a student out of the classroom is the solution."
Parents caught in the middle
The policy drew strong reaction from Breakfast viewers. One said she had pulled her daughter out of two schools because of unruly students and bullying, and that teachers "can't do anything about it", welcoming the change as "a blessing".
Another said their daughter was "missing out on her education because her teachers spend so much of the day trying to manage ongoing disruptive behaviour".
Abercrombie was asked to respond to those comments.
"Do you want your teacher to physically drag your child out of the classroom and put them in a room with another adult," he said. "I don't want that to happen to my kids, and I don't want that to happen to anyone else's kids."
Some in the education sector told 1News they agreed students could be disruptive - but did not agree with the methods proposed. (Source: 1News)
Seymour said the policy was less about physical confrontation than about creating a pathway for escalation, including automatic stand-downs for students who assault staff and mandatory parent meetings, with fines for parents who refuse to attend.
"If you assault a teacher, immediate stand down," he said.
"This is a total switch in the relationship between teachers, parents, and schools, so that children who just want to learn actually get a chance."
Abercrombie said schools instead needed more pastoral care, educational psychologists, social workers and guidance counsellors, and teachers already had the power to deal with students who were fighting or destroying property.
"We absolutely need more support in our schools. That's what we've been fighting for for a long time, but physical force, teachers dragging them out of classrooms, is not the solution."
The safety question
Asked how a teacher would remove a disruptive 14-year-old boy who resisted, Seymour conceded a teacher could be hurt.
"That could happen now, or maybe we can just keep on doing what we're doing now: have the most disruptive classrooms in the developed world, have our students' achievement free falling, and ultimately be a much poorer country as a result," he said.
Abercrombie raised the same risk, questioning what would happen if a teacher or student were injured, or if the student was neurodivergent and could not help their behaviour.
"I ask 100 people what reasonable force means, and I'll get 100 different answers," he said.
"When I go back to the classroom when I finish being president, and if this is policy, I would never do this. It's a disgusting thought."
Seymour said he had received private support from within the profession, quoting a message he attributed to a state school principal who told him union criticism undermined teacher safety.
Abercrombie said the union had not been consulted and no teacher had asked him for the power.
"This just came right out of the blue, and it's just really just a stupid policy and bumper sticker politics at its worst," he said.
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