Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The great advantage of this report is that it has examined both the negative and the positive evidence in schools showing the manner in which schools manage disruptive behaviour. There are some excellent examples of good practice. I expect the final report will focus on issues such as school culture, the code of behaviour, the means by which students are given a voice, the sense of community and communication between the partners. Schools will require structures to deal with the wide range of students. The task force has examined domestic and international examples of how good student behaviour is fostered and examples of good classroom management.

A wide range of options must be considered and I look forward to the recommendations in that regard. I also suspect that there will be recommendations relating to very disruptive students, who are a very small minority but who are causing problems for some schools. The task force has indicated that it may recommend a type of break-out centre. I hope such a centre would not operate on a permanent basis but would be run with a view to ensuring that children can be reintegrated into school. I accept that not every school is suitable for every child and perhaps some training and youthreach programmes should be in place as alternatives for students. I look forward to the recommendations and I anticipate that there will be resource implications stemming from them. In so far as possible I will work with the partners to implement the recommendations because I believe they will cover not just what needs to be done from a resource point of view or in terms of national implementation, but also with regard to classroom management and so forth.

See this speech in context