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Informal school suspensions and “soft expulsions” are fuelling Melbourne’s youth crime crisis, as young people are cut adrift from the education system with no clear pathways back.
Youth leaders and education experts warn that soft expulsions or suspensions – where a child is excluded from school without going through official processes – are widespread across government, Catholic and private schools. Children who have been excluded from school are often at high risk of offending.
Jiress Musafiri works with families in his role with the Australian African Foundation for Retention and Opportunity. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui
Victorian state schools expelled 266 students in 2023, according to official records. But soft expulsions have been recognised since at least 2017, when the Victorian Ombudsman reported that the official number of expulsions was a fraction of those informally expelled, “on whom no data is kept”.
Complete article can be read here: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/off-the-books-school-suspensions-fuelling-melbourne-s-youth-crime-crisis-20250623-p5m9jw.html
