Margaret River teacher Mark Cummins takes protest for student mental health welfare to Parliament

Former Margaret River-based teacher Mark Cummins has made a last-ditch effort to get the new Education Minister on board with making a State-endorsed mental health policy mandatory in all WA schools.

During his protest on the steps of Parliament on February 23, Mr Cummins said his efforts to effect change in the education sector, which ultimately cost him his job, was an uphill battle amid seeming disinterest from new and former top officials.

While newly-minted Education Minister Tony Buti has directed Mr Cummins into a talk with one of his top administrators, there looked to be no moves to make the 2018-endorsed School Response & Planning Guidelines for Students with Suicidal Behaviour and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury mandatory in public schools.

This comes despite WA Catholic Education, the initial target of Mr Cummins’ complaints, receiving State Government funding to implement those guidelines as mandatory across all of its schools in WA.

“These guidelines are critical for our most vulnerable kids and provide the supports and interventions necessary for students who have disclosed suicidal behaviour or self-harm,” Mr Cummins said.

“The protest is a call to the McGowan Government to mandate these guidelines for all kids in all schools throughout WA.”

The ex-teacher said it was wrong to provide funding for CEWA to implement the guidelines — and he repeatedly called for an audit of that arrangement — when public students were not considered.

“Mental illness does not discriminate so why the inequality,” he said.

A spokesperson for Mr Buti said a “significant review of the guidelines will commence in 2023”.

Mr Buti had agreed to set up a meeting with “key education staff to attend” although he would not attend himself.

Liberal MLC Steve Thomas spoke in support of Mr Cummins’ push at last Thursday’s protest and congratulated him on the tenacity of his campaign.

“Although Mark did not get the Government to make the current guidelines mandatory in their application, he was successful in having all three parts of the education system — Catholic education, independent schools and the public school system through the Department of Education — acknowledge that the guidelines could have been better applied and supported,” Dr Thomas said.

“Most importantly he got a commitment from all three sectors to improve the way these guidelines are applied.”

Dr Thomas said the campaign had made the community more aware of the risks to students and ensured education authorities took the issue to heart.