7.3 School Rules, Rewards and Sanctions
In her report to the Minister for Education on Discipline in Schools, 1997, Dr. Maeve Martin recommends that :
“Rules should be
- Few and fair.
- Simple and positively stated.
- Enforceable and enforced.
- Developed and owned by all the partners.
- Discussed and, if necessary and appropriate, taught like academic content”
The age, range of abilities and level of aspirations of the students should be taken into account when rules are formulated. They should be kept to a minimum, and should emphasise personal responsibility, safety and respect for persons and property as fundamental requirements.
School Uniform
The wearing of a school uniform by students may be prescribed in school rules which are incorporated in the School Code of Behaviour taking due account of the requirements of the Equality Acts 2000 – 2004. It may be enforced on the grounds that parents, in enrolling their child in the school, have implicitly or explicitly accepted the Code of Behaviour.
Boards of Management should be cognisant of the conflicting rights of the student to attend school and the right of the school’s Board of Management to include in its rules an insistence on uniform. The enforcement of rules, including a uniform rule, should be done sensibly and should not bring about unnecessary conflict.
Rewards and Incentives
It is important that schools should promote the idea of positive behaviour among students and have a system of rewards for those students who display such behaviour and attitudes.
Students respond well to praise and encouragement and Boards of Management and Principals are advised to explore and to develop appropriate systems of rewards as a counterbalance to sanctions.
Many schools have worthwhile award systems in place, and ACCS will be happy to provide further information.
Sanctions
It is accepted that a teacher/school may administer sanctions for misdemeanours and breaches of school rules. However, the sanction must be reasonable and fair in all the circumstances. Its imposition and administration must be without malice or discrimination. Generally, sanctions should have elements of deterrent and penalty and opportunities for reform.
Boards of Management should have guidelines for teachers regarding sanctions. Such guidelines could reasonably leave minor sanctions, such as reprimand and minor verbal chastisement, to the discretion of teachers, but there should be clear guidelines regarding detention, suspension, expulsion.
Corporal punishment should be explicitly prohibited. The “Non-fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997” abolished scholastic corporal punishment. Consequently, if a teacher should strike a student s/he may be open to criminal charges and to a civil action for damages.
Procedures
In the context of imposing sanctions, Boards of Management should ensure that appropriate procedures are in place, that the rules of natural justice are applied and that the requirements of the Equality Acts of 2000-2004 are fully observed. In general, this requires that proper records of misbehaviour and the action taken are maintained by Teachers, Class Tutors, Year Heads, Deputy Principal and Principal as appropriate; that students and parents are informed when instances of misbehaviour are recorded; that parents are involved at an early stage in resolving instances of serious misbehaviour, and that, before sanctions are applied, the pupil, and in serious cases, both pupil and parent(s) have an opportunity to respond. Parents should be made aware of their right to appeal to a higher authority, such as the Principal or the Board of Management.
The Education Act, 1998, Section 28, makes provision for a Grievance Procedure for the resolution of the grievances of students or their parents. The introduction of such Grievance Procedure will follow a consultative process between the Minister for Education and Science and the Education Partners. Section 29 makes provision for appeals to the Secretary General of the Department of Education and Skills against decisions of a Board of Management regarding the suspension or expulsion of a student or the refusal to enrol a student. The procedures for the implementation of such appeal are contained in DES CL M48/01.
It is particularly important that proper procedures are followed in cases of detention, suspension, expulsion.
Detention
The school rules should state that detention is an approved sanction for certain breaches of discipline. However detention, like other punishments, should be used reasonably. It should be appropriate to the offence, the child’s age, convenience or danger arising from travelling home alone at a later time and the anxiety it may cause parents if they do not have at least twenty-four hours notice of the detention.
Parents/guardians should always be advised in advance of detention and given precise details of when the sanction is to be imposed and for what period. C.L. 33/91 (link)
Suspension
The Articles of Management 10(ii) state that the Principal shall have power, for any cause which he or she judges adequate to dismiss, subject to the approval of the Board, or to suspend pupils from attendance but on the dismissal or suspension of any student the parent shall be informed that he or she has the right to appeal to the Board.
Suspension is a serious sanction and should only be imposed by the Principal in cases where other efforts to resolve a disciplinary situation have failed, or where the nature of the incident dictates that the student be removed from the school immediately.
Before suspending a student, the Principal should inform the parents in writing of the reason for the suspension, the period of the suspension and the requirements which must be fulfilled to gain reinstatement. The parents must be fully informed of their rights in respect of appeal against the suspension.
When a student is suspended it is important that both the student and his/her parents are dealt with fairly. Careful contemporaneous notes should be kept of such meetings and any agreement reached should be recorded.
If a suspension extends beyond five school days the National Education Welfare Board must be informed. It is advisable that all suspensions be reported to the Board of Management for noting and review.
Expulsion
Expulsion is the most severe sanction available to a school against a student. It should only be imposed for very serious breaches of school rules or in cases where the rights of a greater number of students are being denied because of the continual disruptive behaviour of an individual.
In accordance with the Deed of Trust, the Principal has power, for any cause which s/he judges adequate, to dismiss a pupil, subject to the approval of the Board.
The process of expulsion should conform in every way to the requirements of natural justice. It is recommended that each step in the process be conducted in the presence of a witness and that contemporaneous notes be kept.
The schools Code of Behaviour must include a statement of policy and procedure to be followed in the case of suspension and expulsion. The may be included in the Code of Behaviour or added as a separate addendum to the Code.
ACCS Guidelines on the Formulation of a Suspension and Expulsion Policy are available to assist Boards of Management in this task.