Effective day one term three of this year, Victorian school principals will have the authority to suspend or expel students when their behaviour outside school or online puts fellow students and staff at serious risk, a power currently restricted to within the school gate.
The changes bring Victoria into line with NSW and South Australia and will address concerns around harmful behaviour that happens outside school hours – particularly online – but affects student and staff safety.
School principals will use these expanded powers only when necessary to protect their school community.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Education Ben Carroll said the strengthened powers send a clear message that harmful behaviour outside of school or online has consequences.
“The safety of students, teachers and school staff is our top priority – we’re investing in programs that foster more respectful schools and acting to protect school communities.”
“This builds on our nation-leading ban on mobile phones in schools and our support of a social media ban for kids – keeping kids safe in the classroom and online.”
With these expanded powers, the Victorian Government is putting in place the appropriate framework to ensure school leaders have the authorisation to act where necessary.
The changes strengthen the state government’s existing school safety measures, including the nation-leading 2020 mobile phone ban and the Safe Socials resources to help students and families use technology safely.
The new powers build on the $10.4 million invested in the Victorian Budget 2025/26 to expand the Schoolwide Positive Behaviour Support program.
The program helps schools teach students how to behave appropriately, create safe spaces for learning, support students who need extra help with behaviour and ultimately keep teachers and staff safe from violence.
The state government is also investing $4.2 million to ensure students who have experienced sexual harm and abuse from another student, including online, receive targeted therapeutic support through Sexual Assault Services Victoria, with support also provided to students using these behaviours to prevent further harm.
This builds on the work of the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Protection of School Communities) Bill 2021, delivering on a key recommendation from the 2018 Protective Schools Ministerial Taskforce – keeping our schools safe from threatening or abusive behaviour.
Dr Elise Waghorn, a lecturer in Early Childhood at RMIT University, said the new school principal powers should be paired with community education, to help prevent harmful online behaviours.
“We’re constantly putting more pressure on teachers. Principals or teachers shouldn’t feel they are put in a position to expel children based on their online activity. It’s not enough to just expel children; there needs to be education.
“We know that prevention is better than cure. So, we need to look at what we are implementing in schools and in our curriculum to teach children about safety online, but also the impact of online bullying,” she said.
Dr Elise Waghorn said schools need to communicate to parents what they’re doing within the school grounds, so that these conversations can be followed up at home, and the same continuous message is given to children about the expectations around social media use and online communication.
“Giving principals new powers in this area is a good idea. I’m sure there’s going to be lots of support around it, but I’m also mindful that schools may feel it’s another thing that they have to monitor.
“As technology advances, it’s only going to get more challenging to be able to support children in this space. We need to give a really clear message that it’s not the school or the parents in isolation, we need to work together and prevent this behaviour as a community.”
