Behavior Event Announced

The Centre for Independent Studies has scheduled a Sydney event for May 7 to launch a new project on improving student behaviour in Australian schools. (cis.org.au) The event is set for 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. AEST at the group’s office at Level 1, 131 Macquarie Street, Sydney, with tickets listed from A$19. The speakers are Tom Bennett, a British school-behaviour adviser, Marsden Road Public School principal Manisha Gazula, and Centre for Independent Studies education director Blaise Joseph. (cis.org.au) The Centre for Independent Studies says the program will launch its “Improving Student Behaviour in Schools” research project, led by Joseph. Its event page says the discussion will focus on how school systems and individual schools can improve behaviour “across Australia.” (cis.org.au) The immediate backdrop is a long-running argument over disorder in Australian classrooms. A 2023 Centre for Independent Studies paper said 43% of Australian 15-year-olds in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment reported being in classrooms that were noisy and disruptive, above the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average of 33%. (cis.org.au) That same paper said Australia ranked 69th out of 76 countries on the Programme for International Student Assessment disciplinary climate index. The paper argued that behaviour should be taught explicitly and planned “just like any academic content.” (cis.org.au) Parliament has already examined the issue. The Senate referred “the issue of increasing disruption in Australian school classrooms” to its Education and Employment References Committee on November 28, 2022, and the committee’s final report was published in December 2023. (aph.gov.au, aph.gov.au) The federal government has also funded classroom-management resources through the Australian Education Research Organisation. The Education Department says it is investing A$3.5 million in the “Engaged Classrooms” project, which includes guidance on routines, teacher skills, mentoring guides and support for school leaders. (education.gov.au, edresearch.edu.au) Tom Bennett brings a UK policy background to the Sydney discussion. The Centre for Independent Studies says he founded ResearchED, taught in East London for 13 years, advised the United Kingdom Department for Education on its Behaviour Hubs project, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2022. (cis.org.au) Gazula’s school is being presented as a local case study. The Centre for Independent Studies says Marsden Road Public School improved academic results through evidence-based literacy and numeracy teaching alongside an explicitly taught behaviour curriculum, and now hosts Australian and overseas visitors observing classroom practice. (cis.org.au) The event puts a date and a public forum on a debate that has already moved through think-tank papers, a Senate inquiry and federally funded teaching guides. On May 7, the Centre for Independent Studies is trying to turn that debate into a concrete school-behaviour agenda. (cis.org.au, education.gov.au, aph.gov.au)