Submission to the inquiry on the issue of increasing disruption in Australian school classrooms

On 28 November 2022 the Senate referred the issue of increasing disruption in Australian school classrooms to the Education and Employment Reference Committee for inquiry and report.

The issue of increasing disruption in Australian school classrooms disadvantages students and contributes to poor literacy and numeracy results for young people. It denies them the learning of essential foundational skills to reach their full educational, economic and social potential.

The inquiry’s term of reference were to:

1. the declining ranking of Australia in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) disciplinary climate index, making Australian classrooms amongst the world’s most disorderly;
2. the impacts, demands and experience of disorderly classrooms on teacher safety, work satisfaction and workforce retention;
3. teachers’ views on whether or not they are sufficiently empowered and equipped to maintain order in the classroom and what can be done to assist them;
4. the robustness, quality and extent of initial teacher education to equip teachers with skills and strategies to manage classrooms;
5. the loss of instructional teacher time because of disorder and distraction in Australian school classrooms;
6. the impact of disorderly, poorly disciplined classroom environments and school practices on students’ learning, compared with their peers in more disciplined classrooms;
7. the stagnant and declining results across fundamental disciplines as tested through National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) attributing to poorer school-leaving results and post-school attainment;
8. how relevant Australian state, territory and federal departments and agencies are working to address this growing challenge;
9. how leading OECD countries with the highest disciplinary climate index rankings are delivering orderly classrooms to provide strategies on how to reduce distraction and disorder in Australian classrooms; and
10. any related matter.

ACYP made a written submission on 3 April 2023. 

• ACYP submission
• Senate Standing Committee on Education and Employment inquiry page
• Senate Standing Committee report