Advertisement

Special school for unruly kids

Learning academy: The special school will open next year for a one-year pilot program. Picture: The West Australian

Some of WA's most disruptive and violent students will be sent to a special school in Midland as part of an Education Department overhaul of the way public schools deal with a growing number of difficult pupils.

To be based at the former Midland primary school, the new "learning academy" will open next year for a one-year pilot program.

Education Minister Peter Collier said if the trial was successful he hoped to open two more academies north and south of Perth in the next three to five years.

The specialised Midland school would support up to 20 "seriously disengaged" high school students who could not cope with mainstream schooling.

"In some instances they are violent or they are seriously disruptive," he said.

"They may have had significant trauma in their lives."

Mr Collier said problem students would be enrolled at the school full-time, instead of being withdrawn to attend a behaviour centre for a few days or weeks before being sent back to their regular school.

The department will also replace its 12 existing behaviour centres with 13 "engagement centres" to work with extremely challenging students from kindergarten to Year 12.

"It's a reflection of the changing dynamics of our education system - this cohort of students is growing and we can ignore it, or we can do something about it," Mr Collier said.

He asked the department to review its behaviour centre model because he did not believe it was meeting students' increasingly complex needs.

"We're hearing quite regularly of threatening, violent or highly emotive behaviour," he said.

"These sorts of things put enormous pressure on not just the teachers, but also on these students' peers."

Mr Collier said the Midland school should not be seen as punitive and teenagers would not be forced to go there.

It would be less authoritarian than traditional schools. Students would not have to wear a uniform and would be able to call teachers by their first name.

There would be no formal timetable because each student would have an individual learning program based on their own interests.

"We don't want to alienate the students," Mr Collier said. "Every child has his or her strengths."