A 10 year high in expulsion rates is concerning the Western Bay of Plenty Regional PPTA chairman.

Jason Smythe the social statistics of young people are of concern to our country.

Western Bay of Plenty PPTA chairman Jason Smythe says more needs to be done to help youths.

'In fact, one of the first tasks the prime minister assigned to his chief science advisor, Sir Peter Gluckman, was a report exploring the factors underlying adolescent behaviour and indicating where there may be evidence-based opportunities for changes to policy and practices that might help to mitigate its negative outcomes.

'The resulting report was entitled Improving the Transition: Reducing Social and Psychological Morbidity During Adolescence.”

He says there is a link with the 10 year high in expulsion rates and the Gluckman report.

'The report lists the poor outcomes for young people as teenage pregnancy, abortion, binge drinking, bullying, teenage crime, suicide and mental health problems.

'The key message behind Gluckman's findings is the need for tried and tested programmes to be implemented in early childhood and adolescence instead of using programmes that operate out of blind-faith.”

Jason says PPTA spoke with Gluckman he told them there was no silver bullet nor a wand to be waved to magically stop New Zealand youth featuring so prominently in statistics.

'He advocates a 'sustained and consistent approach that does not get caught in partisan politics”.”

PPTA have called for better invention strategies so students get the support they need before it comes to suspension and expulsion.

'This is consistent with the New Zealand Post Primary Teachers' Association / Te Wehengarua (PPTA) belief that there should be a long-term strategy for education in New Zealand, this strategy requires political consensus.

'We challenge political parties to work together to develop a collaborative national process that supports constructive educational change.”

Jason says the Ministry of Education's stand-downs, suspensions; exclusions and expulsion rates do not in themselves identify the causes for the behaviours, which are often wider societal issues.

'Once the ‘punishment' is over, the reintegration into their original school, or moving to a new school, can cause challenges for students, teachers and schools given that resourcing is so tight and avenues of help are so few, if they exist at all. There are some serious concerns for the country to grapple with.

'The level of stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions and expulsions will vary amongst schools as each year the student cohort changes, bringing their own demands and challenges.”
He says the varying levels also reflect the different approaches and philosophies of individual schools in this region.

'Gluckman had no response to a question about the self-governing structure of New Zealand schools working against neither system-wide responses nor the Tomorrow's Schools model.

'The report in itself is a positive step for New Zealand youth but the question remains whether key stakeholders can work cooperatively toward creating a new reality for young people.”