The school-to-prison-pipeline

When we place police in schools, what message are we teaching?

Everyone has the right to a culturally safe and responsive education. The school system in Australia is boasted as one of the finest in the world with the promise of high standards of learning.¹ This promise includes individual learning programs in recognition that the one-size fits all approach will not serve students who require additional learning support. The overarching ethos of the national school curriculum aims to ‘develop students into independent and successful learners with respect for themselves, their peers and global society.’²

This ethos aims to inspire and motivate students beyond the experience of the classroom. From communication, teamwork, and personal development – we recognise that schools as places of learning and care have a long-lasting impact on young people. An impact beyond the classroom, however, is shaped greatly by what happens in the classroom.

The ambition of these principles does not mean the experience is universal. The National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition (NIYEC) [A First Nations youth-led not-for-profit organisation dedicated to transforming education where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people have self-determination throughout their learning lives] have published a report that outlines and details the ways in which Government schools across the Australian continent have excluded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. These practices increase the likelihood of disengagement, behavioural issues, and later justice system contact³ undermining their right to a culturally safe and responsive education.

The School Exclusion Project Report thoroughly documents the historical use of exclusionary practices and draws a compelling parallel between school exclusions and entry into the criminal justice system. It also provides important context for the exclusionary approaches still present in schools today. One growing concern highlighted in the report is the increasing presence of police on school grounds.

As a campaign we have deep concerns about the use of police in schools. The presence of police in environments designed to nurture, educate, and support young people diminishes the fundamental purpose of these institutions. Instead of fostering safety and inclusion, police presence increases the likelihood of punitive responses to student behaviour, placing young people at greater risk of criminalisation rather than connection to appropriate care and support systems.

Emerging research in the United States shows that police presence in schools creates a domino effect of negative consequences for young people, labelled the school-to-prison-pipeline. As rightly stated in the School Exclusion Project Report, the school to prison-pipeline exists here in Australia and can be defined as ‘systemic setbacks that gradually shepherd students away from positive school connections and academic success and into increasing criminal activity’.⁴

OUR YOUTH VOICE MATTERS

In many Australian states, ‘police in schools’ programs are presented as measures to enhance safety with little evidence supporting the claim. Politicians use the ‘tough on crime’ card to push police-in-school agendas and in doing so, ‘transform the environment from one that fosters the academic and social development of children to a place under constant survelliance and control⁵. In 2006, police involvement in Victorian schools was dismantled after ‘Victoria Police acknowledged there was no clear evidence that police in schools were having any positive impact’.⁶

In comparison, research shows that these hardline approaches have negative impacts that ripple throughout school communities. In schools where police officers are embedded, students are more likely to be referred to law enforcement for minor behavioral issues⁷ and young people who encounter the justice system at an early age are more likely to spend time in prison time as adults.⁸

The School Exclusion Project Report also highlights the racial inequities embedded in these programs. Of the 57 secondary schools currently participating in Queensland’s School-Based Policing Program, 41 have an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student population exceeding 8% – despite these students comprising only 8% of the overall secondary school population in the state.⁹ This overrepresentation is not coincidental but reflects systemic patterns of racial profiling, surveillance, and over-policing of First Nations students.¹⁰

The report makes clear that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students view the increased presence of police in schools as an extension of racial profiling and systemic surveillance. While the report does not include direct quotes from young people, it highlights recurring experiences of students who are disproportionately targeted by school disciplinary processes (often for reacting to unresolved racism or bullying). These experiences are deeply connected to the broader presence of punitive discipline and policing in schools.¹¹

These patterns contribute directly to school exclusion and the school-to-prison-pipeline. The overuse of police in responding to incidents that could be more effectively handled by educators, counsellors, or social workers, escalates situations rather than resolves them.¹² This practice not only fuels youth incarceration rates but also raises serious human rights concerns. The School Exclusion Project Report references the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1991), which dedicated a chapter to schooling and its role in criminalisation. However, these insights have largely been ignored in education policy, which continues to prioritise attendance and academic benchmarks over systemic reform.¹³

ADVOCACY TODAY & WAYS YOU CAN SHAPE TOMORROW

The School Exclusion Project Report discusses the systemic underfunding of inclusive education approaches as a major issue. For example, alternative models like suspension centres and return-to-school programs exist (such as those in NSW), but even these are critiqued for insufficient support and for not offering true structural alternatives. Further, while international research shows exclusion is ineffective, Australia lacks a nationally consistent move away from punitive approaches. Despite clear evidence of harm, “no jurisdiction has committed to ending school exclusion”. This reflects a sector stuck in a punitive paradigm, often due to lack of investment in more holistic, culturally responsive or community-led alternatives.¹⁴

NIYEC has been instrumental in advocating against these practices and in highlighting the global recommendations to remove police from schools and emphasise the need to ensure that the right to education is respected, protected, and realised for every young person in Australia.¹⁵

‘Schools and other educational settings should be healing places rather than places of trauma and exclusion. This is a fundamentally different view of education in the twenty-first century that Indigenous Peoples held hundreds of years ago and an equally fundamentally different philosophical understanding of the purpose of education from standard mainstream views of education.’¹⁶

As a supporter of the School Exclusion Project campaign we encourage everyone to read the School Exclusion Project Report and raise the same concerns of policing in school. We support recommendations made by NIYEC and call for the urgent implementation of alternatives to exclusion. If we are to build equitable and just education systems, we must listen to young people, especially those most impacted, and change the ways in which we nurture and support young people throughout school.

References

1. Australian Trade and Investment Commission. (2025) Schools. Study Australia. [online]

2. Australian Trade and Investment Commission. (2025) Schools. Study Australia. [online]

3. National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition. (2024) The school exclusion project: Research report. [online]

4. National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition (2024) The school exclusion project: Research report. Pp15 [online]

5. Graham, A. (2018) Police in schools: Helpful or harmful? It depends on the model. The Conversation [online]

6. Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (2021) Statement: Victoria must abandon proposal to put police in classrooms [online]

7. Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (2021) Statement: Victoria must abandon proposal to put police in classrooms [online]

8. National Justice Project (2025) Alternative first responders: Position paper. Pp7 [online]

9. National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition (2024) The school exclusion project: Research report. pp15 [online]

10. National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition (2024) The school exclusion project: Research report. pp15 [online]

11. National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition (2024) The school exclusion project: Research report. [online]

12. National Justice Project (2025) Alternative first responders: Position paper. pp7 [online]

13. National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition (2024) The school exclusion project: Research report. [online]

14. National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition (2024) The school exclusion project: Research report. [online]

15. National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition (2024) The school exclusion project: Research report. [online]

16. Elizabeth Ann McKinley and Linda Tuhiwai Smith cited in National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition. (2024). The school exclusion project: Research report. Pp8 [online]