These principles are regarded as protecting children in private as well as public schools. Excluding children from school, on a short or long term basis, may have a serious impact on their education and life chances. While due process is supposed to be followed in exclusion processes, this is often not the case. The ad hoc nature of discipline in some schools is a cause for considerable concern. 2.13 Corporal punishment remains lawful in some Australian jurisdictions although most States and Territories have limited the practice by legislation, regulation or policy.
Children deserve the same level of protection from assault as adults.
Corporal punishment conveys unfortunate signals to children about the way legal processes work and fits poorly with the principle that school discipline should be administered in a manner consistent with the child's human dignity. Draft recommendation 2.8. National standards suitable for enactment by each jurisdiction should be developed setting out the permissible grounds for exclusion and the processes to be followed when a government school proposes to exclude a student. Draft recommendation 2.9. Research should be conducted nationally to determine the extent to which young people are excluded from school by informal processes and the extent of the connection between school exclusion and criminal behaviour.