Student Suspensions: The Influence on Students and Their Parents

Abstract

In this study, secondary school students in Years 8-10 who were suspended from school were interviewed during their suspension to obtain their views on the validity, efficacy and consequences of suspension as a strategy in behaviour management. Also, their parents were interviewed for their views on the effect of the suspension on the family and on the student. Students were penalised with periods of suspension from two to 10 days, and these suspensions were supposed to be spent in the care of the parents. The actual operation of these out-of-school suspensions depended upon the parents: in some cases students were allowed to roam free; in others they were grounded. The findings indicate mixed consequences of suspension depending upon the context in which it occurs and the characteristics of the student. The study suggests that student responses reflect the extent to which they accept the authority of the school, with more resistant students being less submissive. Their responses also relate to the perceptions of their care givers, with more resistant students coming from families where the school is viewed negatively. Alternative strategies to suspension might be more effective for the target students as suspension did little to improve behaviour or performance.

New Zealand families' experience of having a teenager excluded from school

“…Generally, processes fall into two categories: temporary suspension, and long-term or permanent 'exclusion'. Internationally, increasing numbers of suspensions and exclusions through the 1980s and 1990s were reported (Lloyd, 2000;Gordon, 2001;Partington, 2001;Brown, 2007). Within this trend, it seems that rates of exclusion vary significantly both between nations (Parsons, 2005) and also between schools (Cullingford, 1999).…”

“…Reports state that minority ethnic groups, young people from disadvantaged or low socioeconomic backgrounds and those in care are consistently over-represented in the statistics (Brodie & Berridge, 1996;Gordon, 2001;Partington, 2001;Munn & Lloyd, 2005;Brown, 2007). New Zealand mirrors the international picture (Education Counts, 2007a, b).…”

“…Firstly, there is agreement that policy change and greater regulation have had minimal effect on rates of exclusion (Partington, 2001;Harrison, 2004). Secondly, Munn and Lloyd (2005) have commented that school ethos can be 'including' or 'excluding'-and that this is often reflected in their formal exclusion figures.…”

“…This review found three research reports that specifically looked at the experiences and perspectives of excluded students-from Australia (Partington, 2001), England (Gordon, 2001) and Scotland (Munn & Lloyd, 2005). A brief summary does not do justice to the young people concerned, but there are consistent themes across the studies around a sense of being rejected, an awareness of being responsible and an awareness of and regret for the longer-term consequences.…”

“…Turning to the voices of the families involved, the literature contains both 'anecdotal' accounts (EBSCOhost, 2002) and larger research studies (Brodie & Berridge, 1996;Gordon, 2001;McDonald & Thomas, 2003;Partington, 2001).…”