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An education lobby group is calling for the Government to stop a Westlake Boys' High School policy that would hold students with bad attitudes back a year.
The North Shore high school's "graduation" scheme would stop Year 9 and 10 students moving up a year level if they didn't reach standards in homework, punctuality and attitude.
The school claimed the scheme - to start this year - would reinforce work attributes.
But Quality Public Education Coalition national chairman John Minto said it was unacceptable and urged the Government to intervene.
Education Minister Chris Carter said yesterday he was seeking details of the plan and the likely fallout for students.
"I would be concerned if students were being held back because of anything other than academic progress," said Mr Carter, who had been overseas and returned yesterday afternoon.
"I'll need to find out more about it before I comment further."
But headmaster Craig Monaghan said the school intended to push ahead with the policy, and had the support of the school board of trustees and parents.
He said it was not a "hard line" and only a handful of students would be affected.
"We are talking, out of a school of 2100 boys, perhaps five to 10 boys who might be affected," he said.
"The whole programme is built around celebrating positive behaviour not reinforcing negatively to boys - that is one of the consequences of it, but the whole purpose is to celebrate what boys are doing in classrooms."
Details of the scheme on the school's website acknowledged it had a downside for some students.
"On the positive side, boys who have consistently always done the right things in class, but who are not academics, and up until now may not have been celebrated, will be," it read.
"Conversely, boys who have consistently got it wrong will fail to graduate. Failing to graduate means a boy who is in Year 9 in 2008 will stay in Year 9 in 2009."
Before a student would be held back he would have to have had at least five letters sent home and several three-way meetings with his parents and a school dean or deputy headmaster.
Mr Minto said the system was more in the line with "social cleansing" than improving education.
