If I feel I have been unfairly disciplined, what can I do?This is a featured page

  • Tell your family
  • Talk to your family. They may be able to help you decide who to ask for help or they may talk to the teacher involved or the principal to try and solve the problem. Your carers may help by writing a letter about it to the principal or the school board of trustees.
  • At any stage, you or your caregivers can ask for a copy of your school’s “complaints procedure”. Many schools have these now. They set out how to go about complaining if you believe something is unfair.
  • Your parents have a right to be told about anything that the principal thinks is affecting your progress at school or is stopping you from getting on with teachers or other students.

Below is a list of people who may be able to help you sort things out:

  • your form teacher or another teacher who you get along with
  • your guidance counselor
  • your dean
  • the head of a department
  • your deputy principal or principal
  • your student representative on the school board of trustees
  • your parents

If you wish, you can go with your parents or a friend, or ask your parents to talk with any of these people for you.

If the problem that concerns you has not been able to be fixed by the school staff, or you want to challenge the actual discipline policy, then you should write to the school board of trustees. You can ask your carers to help write the letter. Or you and your carers can get help with this by calling one of the phone numbers listed at the end of this information sheet under here. Before you send a letter to the school board, it is best to get a copy of what the school charter or statement of aims says about discipline. You may be able to show that the discipline you’re complaining about is not covered or allowed by the charter. Don’t forget to also ask for a copy of the complaints policy and procedure (if your school has one).

The law says that Board of Trustees meetings are open to the public, so both you and your family can go to the school board meeting where they discuss your complaint. You can also take someone as a support person. You can only talk to the Board about the complaint if the chairperson allows it. The chairperson and the Board may decide to have a private meeting with you and your supporters. This is called “going into committee” and means anyone who is not directly involved in the discussion must leave.

If you go to a private school, you and your family should still be invited to a meeting of the board of governors to discuss your concerns. Your parents would need to write and ask the board for a time to meet.

If you do all this and things still aren’t better, there are other people who can help. For more information, see our information sheet, Making Complaints to Schools.


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Anonymous Can teachers in New Zealand hold a class after school? 1 Mar 29 2011, 8:10 PM EDT by YouthLaw
 
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Hi, just wanting to know if teachers in New Zealand can hold back students after the end of school bell has gone ( eg.my end of school bell goes at 3.10pm) just because you were talking in class?? Thanks.
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