Seclusion to be barred

NO MORE: Education Minister Hekia Parata said schools in New Zealand were no longer using seclusion. PHOTO: FILE

A Ministry of Education report has found two Palmerston North schools were using seclusion rooms for children exhibiting difficult behaviour.

West End Primary and Awatapu College were among 17 schools across New Zealand who were found to have used the practice this year.

The education report, Minimising Physical Restraint and Stopping Seclusion in New Zealand Schools, states these schools had now ceased using the practice, while Education Minister Hekia Parata is hoping to make the use of these rooms prohibited through legislative changes.

The report said seclusion was when a child was put in a room where they could not freely escape. It said this practice could be physically and psychologically harmful, and recommends schools cease using it.

Ms Parata said while all schools had stopped using seclusion, a law change was necessary to ensure schools understood seclusion was not acceptable when dealing with disruptive students.

"The vast majority of schools already have good practices in place for managing behaviour in a safe and inclusive way. As a result of the action we have taken, a small proportion that were still using seclusion have ceased the practice and are now being supported to use better techniques to manage some very extreme and challenging behaviour of a small number of students."

The Ministry has since issued new guide lines on managing behaviour to minimise physical restraint, which includes information and tools on timeout as opposed to seclusion.

"I'm pleased that schools have responded quickly to the issuing of new guidance on managing challenging behaviour and the advice that seclusion is no longer an acceptable practice," Ms Parata said. "The Ministry will be doing further work with schools to ensure that they have a good understanding of other behaviour management tools in place to de-escalate challenging behaviour and keep all students and staff safe."