Expulsion (academia) - New Zealand

New Zealand

Expulsion and exclusion are both terms for removing a student from a school for misconduct. The difference is students under 16 years of age are excluded and those 16 or over are expelled, but both are commonly referred to as expulsion. For students excluded, because they are under the minimum school leaving age, the excluding school is required to find an alternative school for the student to attend, or reinstate the student if another school cannot be found. For students that are expelled, the expelling school is not required to find an alternative school, as the student is over the minimum school leaving age.

Exclusion/expulsion cannot be directly done by the principal. It must be done through suspending the student, and requiring the school's board of trustees, or a standing disciplinary committee of the board, to independently assess whether or not the situation is serious enough to justify exclusion or expulsion of the student.

In 2009, exclusions and expulsions rates were 2.41 and 2.01 per thousand students respectively. Students were more likely to be excluded or expelled if they were male, of Maori or Pacific Island descent, and/or attended a school with a low (1-4) socioeconomic decile.

The most common reasons for exclusions and expulsions in 2009 were:

• Continual disobedience – 41.2% of exclusions / 25.3% of expulsions
• Drugs (incl. substance abuse) – 14.2% / 25.8%
• Physical assault on other students – 17.3% / 16.8%
• Theft – 4.4% / 8.9%
• Verbal assault on staff – 5.0% / 2.6%
• Physical assault on staff – 4.5% / 1.6%
• Weapons – 2.5% / 2.6%
• Vandalism – 1.3% / 2.6%
• Alcohol – 1.0% / 3.7%
• Verbal assault on other students – 1.1% / 0.5%

Arson, sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, and smoking were the other main reasons for exclusion and expulsion recorded.