DET Behaviour Policies/Guidelines

Updated January 2024

Information on behaviours of concern, positive behaviour support and functional behaviour assessment is widely available on the Internet. There has been significant research over the last few decades on these subjects within Australia and internationally.

The DET have policies around positive behaviour support, but these are not reflected in its staff practices. It is unclear as to where the DET is sourcing the information which supports its actual practices.

The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission’s “Held Back” Report 2012 p144 found the following:

• There is no legal requirement for a teacher or school in Victoria to report the use of restraint or seclusion of a student. This means that there is no data on how frequently these practices occur in schools, why they are used or their impacts.

• There is no independent oversight or monitoring of the use of seclusion and restraint in Victorian schools. This contrasts with disability services where such instances must be reported to the Office of the Senior Practitioner, Department of Human Services. The Commission is concerned that, although adults with disabilities subject to restrictive interventions have the benefit of reporting and independent monitoring, children with disabilities in school do not have the same protection.

• As part of our research, 34 parents reported the use of restraint on their child at school and 128 parents reported that their child had been placed in ‘special rooms’. Because there is no official data, it is not possible to test these claims.

• 514 educators reported having used restraint. Over half said they were inadequately trained to deal with this situation.

• A number of circumstances describing the use of restraint and seclusion described to the Commission by parents and educators would constitute a breach of human rights.

The Victorian Auditor General’s report “Programs for Students with Special Learning Needs” 2012 made five recommendations to the DET.  One of those was:

‘Seek feedback from schools about the clarity and usefulness of critical policy and guidance material and act to address identified deficiencies. In particular it should focus on:

• restraint and seclusion practices’

Since these reports, parents continue to report restraint and seclusion by DET employees.

Parents reporting restraint to regional and head offices of the DET commonly receive a response endorsing that restraint, and the quoting of Regulation 25 of the Education and Training Reform Act, which is as follows:

Regulation 25 Restraint from danger

A member of the staff of a Government school may take any reasonable action that is immediately required to restrain a student of the school from acts or behaviour dangerous to the member of staff, the student or any other person.

Despite the above section clearly being written in order to protect children from danger in emergencies, practically, it is used to justify the restraint and seclusion of children with disabilities in all circumstances. This can be compared with the Senior Practitioner/Department of Health and Human Services approach, which is that once behaviours are challenging enough for restraint to be used in an emergency, future behaviours of concern are not an “emergency” as they can be predicted to occur, and positive behaviour interventions should be immediately put in place after the first instance. In contrast, the DET approach is that restraint or seclusion can be used multiple times on one child over a period of time, and Regulation 25 can be used to justify each occurrence, without any recourse to psychologist assistance or evidence based behaviour interventions.

In January 2017, DET drafted new Regulations and called for submissions on the draft. Regulation 15 continues to be included but is now renamed regulation 25.   All submissions opposing Regulation 25 (then Regulation 15) including regulations from organisations such as the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission were ignored. See the Commission’s submission here.                      https://www.humanrightscommission.vic.gov.au/policy-submissions/item/1546-submission-to-the-education-and-training-reform-regulations-2017

Supervision and management of restraint

The 2012 Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission report “Held Back- the experiences of students with disabilities in Victorian schools” confirms regular reports from parents that restraint and seclusion occur throughout the state. This information is supported by ongoing reports to various disability advocacy organisations.

The Principals Association of Special Schools Position Paper on “Positive Management Strategies” confirms that special schools have engaged in the practice of secluding students (that is putting students in rooms and closing the door), and are requesting that the DET endorse their own “individual school policies” regarding restraint. If successful, this would result in each Principal being able to determine which restrictive practices are used against children, without regard to best practice, or any overarching policy or direction.

In contrast, both the Victoria Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and Office of the Public Advocate (Restrictive Interventions in Educational Settings Position Paper March 2013) have called for the DET to cede its supervision of restrictive practices to the Office of the Senior Practitioner. This has been refused, and instead since late 2015, an employee of the Office of Professional Practice is advising schools on positive behaviours. The lack of regulation remains.  Restraint remains a popular and cheap alternative for schools.

After changes to the Disability Act, the restraint and seclusion of adults with disabilities has been tightly controlled (at least in theory), and has given rise to the stated aim of extinguishing restrictive practices against adults completely. In contrast, there are very few protections for children with disabilities in Victorian government schools. DET restraint policies have been broad, allowing various interpretations, and giving little guidance to teaching staff. Indications are that DET staff are not required to read the policy.

Despite a commitment in 2017 to release data on restraint and seclusion, as of January 2023, DET refused to do so until September 2023, where the figures showed nearly 2000 incidents of restraint and seclusion. Despite these numbers rising, there has been no discernible response or level of concern from the Department of Education.

Supervision and management of seclusion

DET had no policy in relation to seclusion, therefore until  October 2015  staff had no guidance or instruction on this subject and acted independently. The situation has deteriorated since that time, and now seclusion, rather than being prohibited as recommended explicitly by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Public Advocate, is endorsed.

Frequency and Types of Restraint and Seclusion

Advocacy and parent groups receive regular reports of restraint and seclusion occurring at both special schools and mainstream schools.

There are a number of terms schools may use as euphemisms to describe  seclusion. Terms that need absolute clarification by parents include the following:

Timeout Room

Calming Room

Sensory Room

At one school, a “timeout room” may refer to a therapeutic room which  is  staffed, and contains beanbags, sensory items, books, weighted blankets and bubble lights.

In another school, the same terms may refer to a storeroom, or a room devoid of equipment and light where a child is placed without adult presence as a ‘consequence’ for behaviours of concern.

To understand the changes that DET  have  made to their behaviour policies in late 2015, see the attached report  provided to the  2015 Senate Inquiry  into  Abuse.

Futher Supplemetary Submission Senate Inquiry

In June 2017, DET released a new booklet that was discussed in working groups by numerous stakeholders, some who left the working group objecting to the direction taken by DET.

The new document contained a set of guiding principles that contain optional steps that may or may not be taken by school staff. Despite finally acknowledging that restrictive practices can cause injury or death, not even the most dangerous restraints are banned. The 2022 Restraint Policy lists restraints that are prohibited, but as there is no mandated requirement for staff to read the Restraint Policy, prohibited restraint continues. The confusion lies with the fact that Regulation 25 of the Education and Training Reform Act allows school staff to do anything that the Department of Education and Training deem to be “reasonable”. Therefore what is disallowed in one document, can be protected by Regulation 25.

It is hard to identify the “principles” document for two reasons – one is that the cover of the booklet contains children smiling, and the second is that the hyperlink seems to refer to School ‘Principals’ (the people who head up schools) rather than ‘principles’ that are intended to guide.

The document, despite commitments by the Principal Practice Leader to the working group, continues to allow seclusion. The document is similar to many previous DET documents over the last 10 years. The document can be downloaded here:

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/principals/participation/15Principals.pdf

In the situation where a school may wish to put in place some of the suggestions in this book, schools continue not to receive any more resources for students with disabilities, even since the DET’s own finding that their funding regime for students with disabilities is not effective. Therefore there is no incentive to put in place evidence-based behavioural supports, obtain expert assistance and engage professionals, when it continues to be cheaper to use restrictive practices.

Examples of DET Behaviour plans

The DET have resources that give useful information about evidence-based positive behaviour interventions. These can be found in “Effective Schools Are Engaging Schools” and “Including Students with Disabilities: a Curriculum Toolkit for Schools and Teachers ” Royal Children’s Hospital Education Institute.  Old publications but helpful.

DET staff are not required to read any particular guidelines, policies or handbooks relating to positive behaviour support, therefore the information contained within these guidelines is often not known to staff.  As a result, most Department staff do not actually know what “positive behaviour” interventions are.

As a consequence, DET staff often take it upon themselves to write ‘positive behaviour plans’ for children that are punitive in nature, using punishments and sanctions as consequences for behaviours of concern. The evidence is that such plans are ineffective. Staff may require students to sign “contracts” agreeing to behavioural terms and conditions. There is no evidence that such tools are effective. Some Departmental plans are based on “zero tolerance”.

These are numerous examples of behaviour plans that do not represent a positive behaviour plan approach.

Refer to the “Schools List” to find out how individual schools respond to challenging behaviours.

Advocacy

What can I do if my child is being restrained or secluded?

Research reflects that restrictive practices put children (and the people implementing the restrictive practices) at risk of trauma, injury or death. Children with disabilities at schools in other countries have died as a result of restraint. Australian adults have died of restraint. Restraint is extremely dangerous, particularly as the DET admits to using martial arts personnel to train their staff. To protect your child, it is advised that you act immediately if you suspect or know that your child is being subjected to restrictive practices.

Repeated use of restrictive practices indicate school staff are out of their depth and are not obtaining the professional support and advice they require.

How do I know if my child is being restrained or secluded?

For staff that happen to read the Restraint Policy, they would know that they should be advising parents.  Incident reports are routinely denied by schools, regions, and since 2018, now the FOI Unit.

Therefore the first barrier to protecting children with disabilities is that you may not know what is happening to them. Take note of any changes in behaviour that cannot be accounted for. This can often be a sign that some sort of abuse could be taking place.

Restraint

Complaints of restraint are usually endorsed by DET personnel at the highest level  –  that is, the act of restraining the child is endorsed. Therefore using internal complaint processes is likely to be unsuccessful. It is recommended that due to the dangers of restrictive practices, if the issue is not at least temporarily resolved immediately, external individual/organisations are brought in.

1. Write to your school and prohibit the use of restraint.  Copy the regional office, your local member, Minister for Education and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.
2. Ascertain whether the school intends to use restraint in the future, or accede to your directive to cease restraint.
3. Require use of positive behaviour techniques and request to see the  Behaviour Plan for your child. (See section on Positive Behaviour).
4. Educate yourself in relation to Functional Behaviour Assessments and Positive Behaviour Support. You will then be in a position to understand whether what the school is doing meets minimum practice.
5. Make a report to Victoria Police, however the evidence suggests they have little interest in the assaults by staff of students with disabilities.
6. See a lawyer. The lawyer could write to the school on your behalf, or advise you on further actions you can take, such as a discrimination complaint.
7. Approach media.
8. If the person or one of the people restraining or secluding your child is an integration aide, contact the Victorian Disability Workers Commission.
9. Leave the school.

Seclusion

From parent reports, the biggest challenge to parents wanting to prevent the seclusion of their children is that their consent is not requested. Particularly at special schools where there are many children who are non-verbal, parents will not necessarily know what is happening to their child.

Schools will rarely admit that they subject their students to seclusion. If you suspect your child is being secluded and are requesting information from the school, use questions such as these:

• Where does Johnny go when you can’t control his behaviours?
• What equipment is in the room?
• Is the door shut or open?
• Is a staff member inside the room with Johnny?
• Does he know he can leave the room whenever he wants to?

Ask to see the room where you believe your child has been. Take photographs. Parents report schools dismantling seclusion rooms after they make a complaint leaving no evidence of what has occurred (eg Marnebek School).

Follow steps 1-9 above.

In 2016, Minister Merlino did not condemn the use of cages in the classrooms at Bendigo SDS. Therefore these sorts of practices are endorsed at the highest level. Parent vigilance is therefore crucial.