The number of stand-ups for assault has risen by 23% as schools suffer the ongoing impact of coronavirus disruption

Disciplinary action against children who attack their peers has increased sharply.

Stand-downs, suspensions and expulsions for assaulting other students increased nationwide in 2023 and doubled in some regions.

In 2023, schools filed 11,575 complaints of assaults on other students, 23 percent more than in 2022 and 28 percent more than in 2019 – the year before pandemic lockdowns led to a decline in discipline rates.

In Nelson/Marlborough/West Coast and Bay of Plenty/Waiariki the number rose by more than 40 per cent between 2022 and 2023, with the number in the South Island regions 92 per cent higher than in 2019.

The number of people resisting for all reasons, including assault, fell in the early years of the pandemic but is now well above pre-pandemic levels.

In 2019, schools reported 22,280 cancellations, in 2020 the number fell to 18,189 before rising to 25,142 in 2022 and 30,711 in 2023.

The increases far exceeded the 2 percent increase in school enrollment in 2023.

Physical assault has always been the main reason for restraint, followed in recent years by e-cigarettes/smoking and persistent disobedience.

Physical attacks on other students were also the main reason for suspensions and expulsions in 2023.

The 1,192 suspensions for physical violence against other students in 2023 were 40 percent more than in 2022 and 50 percent more than in 2019.

Waikato schools suspended twice as many students for assault in 2023 as in 2019.

Schools issued 449 exclusions for physical assaults on other students in 2023, 54 percent more than in 2022 and 59 percent more than in 2019.

Earlier this year, the Education Review Office said national action was needed to curb critical levels of violent and disruptive behavior.

The new figures show that schools in some regions had fewer resignations and suspensions for alcohol and drug-related offenses than before the pandemic.

School leaders told RNZ the increase in bad behavior was an aftereffect of the peak of the pandemic.

Greymouth High School principal Samantha Mortimer said she had noticed an increase in assaults but it was not an ongoing problem.

“It often happens that there are lots of young people from different primary schools coming together, someone moving into the area or there are children with incredibly complex needs.”

Mortimer said it is important to use spacers carefully and work hard to ensure students who have misbehaved are helped to improve their behavior.

Often, students who were disciplined in 9th or 10th grade never posed a problem again in later years, she said.

In Bay of Plenty, where physical assaults increased by 41 per cent compared to 2022, Te Puke High School principal Alan Liddle said much of the problem was due to the pandemic.

“What we’re all trying to deal with is the impact of the pandemic on people’s resilience and tolerance, and I think you can see that in society at large.”

“There is a lot of fear among the students. You can imagine that most of their lives they’ve been told to actually stay inside and stay away from people, and then now they’re being told to come to school and that’s not going to be a quick fix.”

Liddle said schools haven’t received much support on these issues.

“There needs to be a big change in terms of what support schools get for this,” he said.

“There will be peaks. It’s not like the increase is constant. There are incidents that happen… but overall there is definitely an increase.”

Vaughan Couillault, president of the Secondary Principals Association, said 10th and 11th grade students exhibited more dysfunctional behavior.

He said the pandemic-related disruptions to school operations over the past four years have affected some children’s ability to get along.

“Our experience over the last 18 months is that students seem to be less able to deal with things in a prosocial way when they get into a conflict or disagreement, and are more likely to react physically rather than socially. “”

Couillault said that not only are students more likely to fight, but the violence is often more serious.

“We’re definitely seeing … a greater willingness to engage in physical violence and move on when, to put it clumsily, the job is done,” he said.

“We see it increasingly going on and going too far.”